By Councillor Alex Varden, Chairman of Hampshire County Council’s Public Protection Committee

The real task starts now. After a year of planning and organising, the Down to Earth Conference is now over. The question is: what did it achieve?

It certainly was not just a talking shop. We always said Down to Earth was a unique local event - a chance for representatives from all sectors to meet people who have a wealth of international experience in tackling the difficult problems of our consumer society.

Hampshire has put itself on the map in trying to make a real difference. We’ve done this by creating local actions that change and improve the way we live now and in the future.

Almost 200 delegates attended the main conference in Southampton. They spent much of their time talking to each other in workshops aimed at creating action and agreements. No one could sit back and listen to hours of presentations. In fact, delegates enjoyed meeting people from different sectors whom they would not normally meet. That was one of the aims of the conference, and it was interesting to see how so many of the issues and answers were common to all.

Co-operation and partnership were the themes, like the already successful Project Integra partnership between Hampshire County Council, the other local authorities in the county and private waste contractor, Hampshire Waste Services. We can now expect more of this type of pattern.

Future joint working will address how we live and work, aimed at ensuring we are all armed with, and involved in, making informed decisions about the way we live. If we all make better decisions at home and work, we can save energy, reduce waste, make resources go further, reduce emissions, improve health and so on.

At the same time as the main conference, there were also a number of satellite events throughout the county. Around 700 people discussed topics such as better building design, improving businesses and profits in a sustainable way, the impact of tourism, and the future for waste management.

The latter event announced the outcomes of a unique research project for Project Integra, which for the first time analysed what is in our bins in terms of categories of products (eg plastics, glass etc), the weight produced by household type, and the waste collected by district. This factual data was also linked to the views and opinions of 1,500 people who were asked about their lifestyle in relation to waste.

The research will allow us to better plan for waste reduction and recycling, and to better target Project Integra’s ‘War on Waste’ initiative.

Young people from all over Hampshire gathered at Barton Peveril College in Eastleigh to discuss the same issues as at the main conference, with two of its international keynote speakers - Dianne Dillon Ridgley and Bill Rees. The issues sparked a lively debate - young people have a huge stake in the future, and it was important that their voice was heard.

Our local champions of industry, the Chambers of Commerce, are keen to put the environment at the heart of the business agenda. We were also pleased that the Government’s ‘are you doing your bit?’ roadshow was in Portsmouth during Down to Earth week.

Hampshire County Council has linked up all the key sustainable development websites on its own acclaimed website - www.hants.gov.uk - and you can also access these via Project Integra’s site, www.integra.org.uk.

So, after three hectic days, we are confident we will be able to see a shift in attitudes. With 1.5 million people in Hampshire, there is a huge challenge ahead to engage our communities in the debate. We are all committed to do our best to involve everyone - we can all make a difference by doing our bit.

Down to Earth has not ended. It has only just started, and its impact will continue for some time. Our proceedings will be reported at Earth Summit III in 2002. We need to show that between now and then, we have all done something that’s had an impact. The real success of Down to Earth will be illustrated by the next generation.