Guidance

Guidance note for Homes England advice notes (HTML)

Published 2 September 2025

Applies to England

© Crown copyright 2025

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Homes England is committed to community engagement.

Homes England knows how important it is to effectively engage with, and listen to, communities.

Homes England is committed to effective community engagement in our projects. In 2023, we launched our Strategic Plan 2023 to 2028 which puts communities at the heart of our mission:  

We drive regeneration and housing delivery to create high-quality homes and thriving places. This will support greater social justice, the levelling up of communities across England and the creation of places people are proud to call home…

…We know that engagement with communities is critical to designing places that meet peoples’ needs. We expect our partners to ensure that people can influence housing and regeneration activities in the places where they live. We will also encourage the development of effective plans for the long-term stewardship of places to ensure their continued success.

About the community engagement advice notes

At Homes England, we aim to capture locally relevant ideas and suggestions that reflect opportunities for transformation and regeneration within communities. By engaging meaningfully with local communities and stakeholders, we can identify what matters most to them. This knowledge enables us to shape projects that deliver lasting social value outcomes, benefiting the community both now and in the future.

We consider supporting other public sector bodies in defining their approach to community engagement and social value as a key part of our role. 

The community engagement advice notes have been created by Homes England to share ideas and suggestions with local government and their partners.

The advice notes aim to promote meaningful community engagement and support the understanding and delivery of ‘locally relevant social value’, linked to the planning, housing and regeneration development process.

There are 2 advice notes:

  • advice note 1 — ‘establishing a clear starting point for community engagement’
  • advice note 2 — ‘using community engagement to understand and deliver ‘locally relevant’ social value outcomes‘

The first advice note provides guidance on motivations, principles and definitions for community engagement and locally relevant social value.

Advice note 2 provides some guidance around the practical application of how to approach the delivery of locally relevant social value throughout the planning and regeneration process, through meaningful community engagement.

Potential users of the advice notes

The community engagement advice notes have primarily been created by Homes England for local government and their partners. The development of the advice notes has involved consultation with local government officers from across the country.

We hope that the advice notes could be a useful resource for a wider audience, including, for example:

  • town councils
  • parish councils
  • local community groups
  • community interest representatives
  • private sector developers and housebuilders
  • built environment, planning, housing and regeneration industry organisations

Example uses of the advice notes

Example uses of the advice notes are:

  • at the earliest stages of a project, to embed an outcomes-focused approach from the start
  • as a reference to support research and when thinking about ways to identify local needs and social value opportunities
  • as a resource when preparing for community engagement activity as part of planning applications and housing development in your area
  • to signpost people who are interested in learning more about community engagement and social value to relevant advice and resources

The community engagement advice notes have been created by Homes England for local government and their partners. The advice notes aim to share ideas and suggestions to support local government in developing their own approaches to engaging communities and to support the delivery of ‘locally relevant social value’ in planning, housing and regeneration development projects.  

Homes England is not responsible for and does not endorse the information provided by any third parties referenced in the community engagement advice notes series. We are not promoting one organisation above another and there may be other organisations with similar or different information to that contained in the advice notes. 

Homes England does not guarantee the accuracy or relevance of the information in the advice notes either generally or to a specific project. The contents of the community engagement advice notes do not constitute legal or technical advice and are provided for informational purposes only. 

Users of the advice notes are responsible for establishing the accuracy and relevance of the information in the advice notes and should take their own advice. Read the disclaimer in the GOV.UK terms and conditions which applies to the community engagement advice notes series.

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