Response to ‘Planning for the Future’ White Paper

Response to ‘Planning for the Future’ White Paper

Posted 3rd November 2020

To respond to The Planning White Paper published in August that will be part of setting the future for planning policy in the UK, Social Value UK’s members Real Worth, SeerBridge, Social Value Portal and Temple Group organised a series of events, meetings and coordinated a joint response.

The consultation response, submitted on 29th of October, highlights key concerns around social value themes that are not covered or in depth in the current paper and, on behalf of the Social Value UK members that participated in the consultation, it gives suggestions to how the new Planning Policies can be improved. It reads:

“Together, we directly support and engage regularly with over 150 local authorities and private sector developers to maximise social value in planning. We welcome the opportunity to respond to The Planning White Paper, and to highlight the serious importance of embedding social value as the golden thread running through the reformed planning system. It is a far-reaching oversight that ‘social value’ is not explicitly cited within The Planning White Paper given its utmost importance within current planning and wider central and local government spending.

Social value is the golden thread that holds together the values of transparent, sustainable planning, ensuring development benefits, unites and levels up local communities. Furthermore, social value is key to the success of a reformed planning system meeting the goals of trust, speed and accountability.

This omission is made even more surprising given the importance of the Public Services (Social Value) Act (Act) 20123 and the transformation that the Act is having on the relationship between the public and private sectors with all councils being required to embed social value into their procurement processes. Furthermore, many councils are already looking at how to embed social value into planning as a way of delivering more value and helping rebuild communities. This response sets out a number of recommendations for how social value is critical in unlocking a reformed planning system that delivers the maximum benefits to society; socially, economically and environmentally.”

Download the paper here.