Sutton: One Planet Hackbridge

Sutton has embarked on this sustainability initiative with a strong sense of community involvement and engagement at each stage. To date, Hackbridge residents have cut their carbon and energy bills following over 100 free sustainability visits from BioRegional.  All of the householders received a tailored report outlining their footprint and ideas to reduce their carbon and costs.

Suttons 'One Planet Hackbridge' will see a large scale programme of development and refurbishment, ultimately transforming the area of Hackbridge into a sustainable suburb.  The Hackbridge initiative forms part of the wider 'One Planet Sutton' (OPS), and an ever-evolving programme of projects that will deliver the borough's sustainability action plan.

Sutton is working with BioRegional, an entrepreneurial charity which initiates and delivers practical solutions to help us all live within a fair share of the earth's resources. BioRegional, along with WWF, developed the global initiative 'One Planet Living' based on 10 principles of sustainability.

Sustainable suburb

With the majority of UK residents living in suburban areas, Sutton has turned its attention to demonstrating that suburbs can be places for sustainable living and working. Thus, as part of the wider OPS initiative, Sutton is aiming to transform Hackbridge and create the UK's first sustainable suburb; a flagship example of how suburban dwelling can look in the future.

Following extensive consultation with Hackbridge residents, local companies and landowners, including a whole week of activity in early 2008, Sutton began a process to produce and adopt new planning policies to guide and shape change in the area. 

A masterplan for Hackbridge has been drawn up to address local residents' calls to make the environment more of a priority and to help make their homes more energy efficient. This also looks at job creation in the local area. The masterplan sets out how Hackbridge could be transformed through a combination of community involvement work and a large scale programme of environmental upgrades to existing homes, with the development of 1,100 new environmentally-friendly homes. Public support has been strong, with over 90 per cent of respondents supporting the borough's plans.

Project targets cover energy use, waste and recycling, sustainable transport, low impact materials, food, water, habitats, local identity, economic regeneration and improving community wellbeing.

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