Dear Chris
many thanks for your interesting question.
About the topic: in Chapter 2 - ”Other Models for Promoting Community Health and Development”, Section 9 is precisely devoted to “community readiness” https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/overview/models-for-community-health-and-development/community-readiness/main Community readiness is related to the degree to which a community is ready to take action on an issue. This topic, and the suggested tools, revealed their usefulness in addressing matters related to climate change or ecological disasters.
See also Section 18, “PACE EH: Protocol for Assessing Community Excellence in Environmental Health” https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/overview/models-for-community-health-and-development/PACE-EH/main It refers to a US project, but its features – I think – may be applied also in other countries.
About experiences in UK: you may find indications in Toolkit 11 “Influencing Policy Development”, Example 3 “Road Injury Traffic Prevention Policy Development in the UK” https://ctb.ku.edu/en/influencing-policy-development/examples/example3 Surely the issue is different, but you may have some ideas for working in a local community with the aim to impact also to national and local policies.
Many wishes for your work and many compliments for your commitment to environmental issues!