The environmental planning agenda is shaped by a range of top‐down policies and directives, both nationally and internationally. Simultaneously, several local, often community‐led, initiatives seek to enhance their local environments. This article seeks to understand both synergies and dissonance between top‐down and bottom‐up actions within the environmental conservation and management domain of sustainable development. Four case studies of local voluntary initiatives in Lincolnshire (UK) are used as the basis to examine how the activities and stated goals of the groups align with wider policy goals and engage with formal planning systems. The analysis draws from the neo‐endogenous development theory to offer recommendations about how to recognise and empower local initiatives within a multi‐level governance approach to delivering sustainable development. Conclusions also suggest that the principles of neo‐endogenous development can be applied more widely to capture greater value from community‐led activities.

中文翻译：

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应用新内生发展理论实现可持续的地方自然保护

环境规划议程由一系列国内外自上而下的政策和指令所决定。同时，一些通常由社区主导的本地计划试图改善其本地环境。本文旨在了解可持续发展的环境保护和管理领域中自上而下和自下而上的行动之间的协同作用和不协调。以英国林肯郡（Lincolnshire）的地方志愿活动为例，对四个案例进行了研究，以此为基础来研究这些团体的活动和既定目标与更广泛的政策目标以及正式规划系统的互动方式。该分析借鉴了新内生发展理论，就如何在实现可持续发展的多层次治理方法中认可和增强地方倡议提供了建议。结论还表明，新内源性发展原则可以更广泛地应用，以从社区主导的活动中获取更大的价值。