Community charter
Your community charter set out your goals and ambitions for your community. It is a key part of your Energy Master Plan application.
A community charter is a one-page overview of your Sustainable Energy Community’s (SEC) vision and goals briefly outlining your objectives and commitments to action. The community charter is a statement of intent and represents the collective ambition of your community. It is signed on behalf of your SEC by nominated steering committee members but is not a legal document. It is a communications tool representing the collective ambition of your SEC.
Your community charter should be created to suit your community’s unique needs and vision.
Here are four key elements to create your community charter:
- Vision Statement: This is a one-sentence, aspirational statement describing how your community will be different in the long-term as a result of establishing the Sustainable Energy Community.
- Mission Statement: A mission should be grounded more in real terms of achievable and measurable impact you can make.
- Goals: An explanation on the initiatives and high-level goals your SEC plans to pursue to achieve your vision.
- Actions: Outline tangible actions you will demonstrate in the community. Utilising the skills assessment and opportunity mapping first can be useful in helping you to outline the actions you are planning to take.
How the charter helps the Energy Master Plan
You community charter should be signed by steering committee members on behalf of your sustainable energy community. Your charter can evolve over time and should reflect your main areas of interest in sustainable energy. It will also be a key part of your Energy master PLan Application in the 'Plan' Stage.
The charter should help inform the priorities of the Energy Master Plan and can direct the Consultant brief. For example if a key objective of your community is to ensure all homes are well insulated and that no one is at risk of energy poverty, then your steering committee may choose to direct more of the available funding towards assessing the energy rating of the homes in your area. Or you may have a focus on business efficiency and direct audits towards this area. The same could be done for sustainable transport options.
All key energy users should be considered but where you focus should relate to where your community group has the most influence and interest in addressing. When you are happy that your charter reflects your community energy ambitions it should be included with your Energy Master Plan application. It can be useful to make this document available to the wider community. This might be done by sharing it on a community noticeboard or in a space regularly used for community meetings, if this is available. Another option is to include it on your website or community webpage if you have one.
Download the Community Charter guide and template