_edited_edited_edited.jpg)
On October 16th 2025, we asked Medway Council the following question:
Question for full Council meeting - Thursday 16th October 2025
In this 80th year since the formation of the United Nations, I am asking this question on behalf of Medway United Nations Association.
While the United Nations (UN) doesn't directly influence a Local Plan's content, local councils are encouraged to align their plans with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as local governments are considered best-placed to link global goals to local communities.
All of the SDGs have targets that are directly or indirectly related to the daily work of local and regional governments. Local governments are policy makers, catalysts of change and the level of government best-placed to link the global goals with local communities.
I would, therefore like to ask the following:-
What impact or influence has the UN's SDGs had on the decisions the Council has made in aligning its policies and priorities for localizing the 17 global goals, particularly in areas like climate action and social deprivation.
Alan Wells
Medway United Nations Association
MEDWAY
The UN Sustainable Development Goals are the world's joint work plan to eradicate poverty, fight inequality and stop climate change by 2030.
The UN's Sustainable Development Goals consist of 17 goals and 169 sub-goals. The goals are intended to serve as a common global direction for countries, businesses and civil society.
We Support the UN's Sustainable Development Goals for Medway
The UN's Sustainable Development Goals are the world's joint work plan to meet today's needs without destroying the opportunities for future generations to meet their needs.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) define the world we want. They apply to all countries and is our plan, simply put, to ensure that no one is left behind.
The Sustainable Development Goals are the map of the world we seek: one without poverty, one where the planet is protected, and a world in which everyone prospers – before 2030.
All 17 goals are mutually dependent and are built on the principle of sustainable development.
Medway and the Sustainable Development Goals
The UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) apply to Medway like anywhere else.
If the SDGs are to be realised locally, then at every level we will need to act. The local authority is on the frontline of many of the challenges the SDGs seek to resolve, but the wider national context will be crucial in doing so.
Some of the goals and targets are more applicable than others. For example, SDG 11: ‘make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable’, was negotiated and agreed largely as a result of sustained lobbying by international local government organisations.
This SDG is seen as foremost among the 17 in focussing on the role of local and regional administrations in delivering sustainable development.
key report:
-
The UN Sustainable Development Goals Report for 2024 (in English) (The Sustainable Development Goals Report, special edition)
The main reasons why locally we should investigate and implement the UN’s SDGs are:
Making progress towards these comprehensive and universal global goals by 2030 will depend on action
at the local level.
The SDGs can help focus efforts on the health and wellbeing of people that are the furthest behind.
Engagement with the SDGs supports and complements the declaration of a climate emergency.
The SDGs can provide us with a framework for strategic planning, policy review and action for sustainable development – for economic progress, social justice and inclusion, protection of the climate, environment and biodiversity, and ensuring no one is left behind.
The SDGs can help foster strategic partnerships, framing joint actions and shared priorities in terms of the goals.