Policy and Planning

Much of this work is with communities and at least touches on social values and place. These are some of the opportunities and questions raised in incorporating social values into this area of practice.

• Social values are increasingly explicit in heritage policies, e.g. the 2019 Historic Environment Policy for Scotland (HEPS) and the 2020 Historic Environment Scotland Intangible Cultural Heritage Policy Statement.
• They are also connected to delivering against broader national policy priorities: e.g. the well-being economy, equalities agenda, and social impact.
• The key area of application is in significance assessment and addressing the dynamic aspects, depth, scale, hierarchies of value.
• Standard planning timeframes (particularly around consent) mean building in a social value assessment at the time of review might be difficult. Suggested connection to Heritage Management, so social values can be captured earlier in a listing or designation process.

Questions:

• Social values are recognised as of importance, but most initiatives are retrofit or reactive – how could practice in this area become more proactive?
• What information and understandings might other stakeholders be able to provide as part of the planning process?
• How do we better embed social values in funding and investment decisions? Outcomes focus, understanding opportunities, balancing different values (also see the OPiT Built Heritage Investment Group’s work on Sustainable Investment, led by Built Environment Forum Scotland).