We have today published our response to the NPPF Consultation in which we emphasise that social sustainability is not yet well understood and implemented by the planning system. We welcome the ambition of the Labour government to reform planning and rethink the way we deliver housing, however, we are beleive that the social impact of developments are still not fully considered in the proposals.
We are determined to continue to promote the importance of social sustainability in the planning system, especially in the forthcoming plans for future NPPF changes, re-introduction of stronger regional planning, drive for increase in housing delivery and the work of the New Towns Task Force.
The economic and environmental dimensions are better understood and different planning instruments exist in the current policy and practice context, social sustainability is still largely driven by piece-meal policy development and lacks a consistent and holistic approach.
Our decade of work has shown us that we still struggle to make the link between the evidence and experience about what makes places thrive over time and how to support the social life of places. The lack of robust planning policies connected with the social life of places also often relegates social and community infrastructure to an afterthought. The elements of social sustainability are not fully covered by current frameworks for inclusive growth and are poorly defined in the NPPF and other planning guidance.
We believe that social sustainability as a concept is capable of being understood, quantified & actioned. In thinking about our new generation of new towns and town extensions we need to pay attention to safeguarding the social and environmental assets of local areas, meeting the needs of residents in different circumstances and raising our collective game to make better decisions about the balance between social, environmental and economic trade-offs.
