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Target I1: Social impacts

  • Last modified date:
    8 February 2007

The quality of people's lives is strongly influenced by the quality of their local environment. The day to day running of a Department's land, buildings and operations, and the coming and going of staff, can have significant impacts on the quality of life in local neighbourhoods.

The rest of the Framework covers the environmental impacts of running the Government Estate. To round off this approach, the target set in this chapter requires Departments to address the way in which managing land, buildings and operations affects staff and local communities.  Potential impacts could include:

  • environmental quality - for example, air emissions, landscape, noise, light
  • infrastructure - for example, schools, roads, water supply
  • amenities - for example, access to countryside, impacts on local shops and services
  • transport - for example, staff parking on local streets and provision of extra bus services

Just as considering the impacts of managing its land and buildings on local communities signals Government's commitment to sustainable estates management, so the way Departments recruit and provide for their staff sends a message about others on the importance Government attaches to socially responsible employment as a key component of sustainable development.  However, since such issues are normally the responsibility of human resources departments, no new targets are introduced here. However, the chapter includes a brief overview of some of these initiatives and the guidance provides links to further information.

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