Having established a strong reputation for its work with the Croydon Council Urban Regeneration Vehicle around socioeconomic impact, PRD was commissioned by LB Croydon to develop a new strategic approach to securing local socioeconomic impacts from all development activity in the borough.

Croydon is amongst the most active boroughs in London in terms of its development pipeline, with £9.6 billion of development planned within the borough over the next ten years.

The strategic development process involved:

+  Reviewing and proposing new policy and corporate approaches that prioritise socioeconomic outcomes in planning approvals

+  Launching an innovative, borough-wide Pathways to Employment (P2E) Apprenticeship Training Agency to create construction-linked employment opportunities for local people

+  Supporting LB Croydon to identify, engage and structure its negotiations with major private developers

+  Delivering early wins in terms of new apprenticeships created by virtue of this new approach

+  Securing other local impacts (such as contracting opportunities for local businesses, training and employment opportunities, links with education and targeted initiatives for vulnerable residents) through this approach.