Our vision for Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire has the potential to be a leading area for sustainable economic growth and human wellbeing. We can and we must protect its unique rural and urban character whilst meeting global environmental challenges. Our Vision for 2050 shows how this can be achieved.

Our Vision for Gloucestershire

CPRE Gloucestershire’s Vision identifies 6 key challenges for Gloucestershire:

• Growing the local economy, and with it additional employment opportunities, particularly in those sectors where Gloucestershire is strong. The aim should be steady growth in the economy and in productivity with more businesses starting up which can be sustained without putting the county’s environment at risk.
• Addressing fully the acute demand for more affordable and social housing both in our urban and rural areas to support economic growth by ensuring an adequate supply and range of housing types in sustainable locations.
• Providing appropriate training and skills development; and encouraging research and innovation.
• Ensuring that our communities, both urban and rural, are attractive and vibrant places to live and work where people are proud of their area and enjoy a high quality of life and well-being.
• Recognising the importance of Gloucestershire as one of the nation’s key food growing areas, and the need to retain and if possible enhance that capability, while at the same time maintaining and enhancing landscape and biodiversity.
• Achieving all of the above while meeting global imperatives to address climate change including moving to a low carbon economy, reducing resource use and generally moving towards more sustainable lifestyles.

Our Vision for Gloucestershire was developed as an alternative to the Gloucestershire 2050 Vision put forward by Gloucestershire County Council. Our Vision can be delivered incrementally and is firmly built on the principles of sustainable development with the three legs of economy, community and environment. It is also a Vision that recognises and has responded to the urgent need to address climate change, reduce resource use and move towards more sustainable life styles.