Information for Businesses

Sustainable Communities Pledge

Introduction

Huntingdonshire is a diverse district which is home to beautiful green spaces, urban developments and historic landmarks. We would love your support in keeping our district litter free and a wonderful place to live, work and visit. To aid the continuous improvement of industrial areas within the district, we have created the Sustainable Communities Pledge to create a safer, more welcoming area for visitors and encourage engagement with retail units within these areas.

What is it?

The aim of the project is to create a pledge which all businesses in the district will sign up to, creating a network of businesses through the industrial areas who are committed to improving their local community.

Once a business has signed up to our pledge, with the aim of meeting a set number of objectives, we will provide a date for an audit, whereby if you are able to evidence you have met set criteria, you will be eligible or a tiered award. This will increase the more influence you have on your local community.

All businesses who achieve this will receive an award to acknowledge their efforts, which you will be able to display to customers.

The project

After a successful pilot, we are now extending the Sustainable Communities Pledge to key business areas throughout Huntingdonshire with a view to extending this to smaller areas in the future.

Community impact

The project is being used to create a cleaner, safer and more welcoming environment through industrial areas within the district. However, due to the nature of the scheme, there are likely to be positive, wider community impacts. These could include increased levels of happiness and wellbeing from improved, greener local environments, increased education and environmental awareness, greater feeling of ownership and responsibility of industrial areas leading to an overall positive behavioural change.

Studies show that businesses which are in areas which are cleaner receive a higher level of footfall, as consumers perceive the area to be safer and more welcoming and the business to be more reputable.

Cost

The Sustainable Communities Pledge is currently free of charge to new applicants. This will continue to be the case for those who signed up during this phase of the project. 

We hope that small operational changes included within the proposed audit will have minimal cost associated with them and are likely to be policies which are already in place within your workplace, therefore businesses of all scales are able to reach the top tiers of the pledge.

What’s involved?

Complete the online form below and we will then contact you and provide you with the audit information with criteria you must reach for each pledge tier.

Subsequently, we will contact you to organise a date to complete the audit at your convenience, or you may contact us to tell us when you think you have met the requirements.

Each audit point must be evidenced and signed off by a member of Huntingdonshire District Council. Once all elements of the tier are complete, you will have successfully completed that tier of the pledge.

What are the positives?

√   Improved local environment

√   Improve public perception of your trading

√   Heightened feeling of safety

√   More welcoming environment

√   Reduce litter

√   Improved carbon footprint and work towards carbon neutral

√   Improves brand/company association

√   Consumers are willing to spend more on brands they do not see littered - this could mean up to 2% increase in turnover

√   Refining policy and practices can improve efficiency and reduce costs associated with packaging, resources and waste disposal

√   Reduced tonnage of waste to landfill and increased overall recycling

√   Each business who completes one of the Sustainable Communities Pledge tiers will have the opportunity to be recognised through our social media channels and an annual press release.