Notice of Motion

Labour Group

20 Minute neighbourhoods

This Council notes our shared targets set out in both the corporate plan and City Plan Party 2 to build community wealth and affordable housing and reach carbon neutrality by 2030, and the importance to these goals of fostering a circular local economy.

Council recognises that both during and after the ongoing COVID crisis there is a pressing need to grow local place-based cohesion and wellbeing, and believes launching a “20 minute neighbourhood” initiative as part of a community wealth building approach to COVID recovery will help meet these aims;

The Council therefore calls for;

1) The convening of the Community Wealth Building Working Group at the earliest opportunity and;

2) For that Group to be requested to work with officers to produce a report for committee(s) that seeks to identify feasible locations to implement both micro “20 minute neighbourhood” projects (such as community gardens and edible bus stop) and a full-scale pilot scheme for the model;

3) That report to include exploration of possible sources of funding to support investment in this full-scale pilot; and

4) That officers be requested to seek to identify potential partners for the pilot scheme amongst other local anchor institutions, particularly those involved in the areas of education and health and wellbeing.

Proposed by: Cllr Evans                                Seconded by: Cllr Childs

Supporting Information:

The TCPA and Sport England are looking into how the 20-minute neighbourhood concept could be delivered as an effective way of creating healthier more engaged communities. The 20-minute neighbourhood is all about living locally, giving people the ability to meet most of their daily needs within a 10-minute walk from home (10 minutes there and 10 minutes back again), with safe cycling and local transport options. The COVID-19 pandemic lockdown has put a spotlight on the importance of the liveability of our local neighbourhoods, with people spending more time locally, working at home if possible, using public green social space, walking and cycling rather than using cars and connecting with neighbours.

The TCPA and Sport England believe that the idea of 20-minute neighbourhoods provides local authorities with an easily understandable concept that could be taken forward as a founding principle to be embedded within the English planning system. 

They are seeking to learn from other places that are already implementing the concept and build a coalition of partners and organisations who are interested in putting the concept into practice. They also intend to publish a practical guidance document for local authorities in early 2021.