BCO ESG Webinar: Embedding Social Value in Planning

The BCO is hosted this webinar with the Social Value Portal to discuss the wider social and economic impact of new developments on communities.

The webinar drew on the key findings of the Briefing Paper, Embedding Social Value in Planning, published by the Social Value Portal in August 2021, the result of collaboration by 30 organisations across the planning, development and design communities.

The exercise demonstrates the clear desire by organisations to find a way to work together to establish social value in the planning process to support levelling up, help communities to recover, deliver better places to live and work and to rebuild trust.

Key issues that were covered in the seminar included:

• Why is embedding social value such an important opportunity in supporting the levelling up agenda?

• Guidance for local councils on the options available to include social value into their planning policy in the short term and when developing a Local Plan.

• Guidance for developers on how they can use the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) to submit a Social Value Statement and ensure it is considered as part of the planning submission.

•Examples of best practice and how some local councils are already using the recommendations within the Guidance.