Social Impact Assessment

To streamline the delivery of major housing developments, the Secretary's Environmental Assessment Requirements (SEARs) for state significant housing projects require social impacts to be considered in the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). A Social Impact Assessment in accordance with the Social Impact Assessment Guideline is only required where those impacts are assessed as significant.

This case study demonstrates how social impacts may be considered within an Environmental Impact Statement: Case study – consideration of social impacts for housing projects.

The refined guideline reflects that all state significant projects must undertake a social impact assessment in accordance with their Secretary's Environmental Assessment Requirements (SEARs). This refinement aligns with the 2024 changes to State significant housing project SEARs, which provide an alternate approach to social impact assessment.

The refined guideline clarifies the purpose of the post-approval stage of social impact assessment to be about the implementation of social impact mitigation and management measures. As part of this refinement, it is expected that management of social impacts should be addressed in the social impact assessment.  

The refined guideline clarifies that mitigation measures should be tangible, relevant, deliverable, and enduring. Key social mitigations should be included in the Environmental Impact Statement mitigations table.  

The refined guideline provides clearer advice for when a Social Impact Management Plan is needed and clarified what the social impact assessment should include.

The guideline's refinements emphasise the importance and purpose of using primary data, including relevant engagement, to support well-informed and reliable assessments. They clarify the distinction between the general purpose of engagement for Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and social impact assessment, helping to define the role of each in project development. Guidance on engaging interested and impacted people has also been refined, with a stronger focus on those who are directly impacted.

The technical supplement has been updated to improve both proportionality and clarity.  

For scoping the level of assessment, the definition of a 'standard assessment' has been refined to apply to projects with 'moderate impacts' rather than 'unlikely significance'. A new 'negligible' rating has been introduced into the significance matrix for unlikely or minimal impacts, and 2 medium ratings have been reclassified to low significance.  

To achieve better proportionality, the Scoping Worksheet has also been updated to:  

• consider whether planned environmental management measures would modify social impacts  
• limit the highest level of assessment for positive impacts to 'standard'  
• include new inputs, such as identifying who is impacted.  

Additionally, layout and functionality improvements have also been made to deliver a more practical tool.   

Culture is one of the categories of social impact in the Social Impact Assessment Guideline. Engaging with Aboriginal communities is a specialised area, which requires a culturally sensitive approach. This practice note provides guidance on understanding the value of this engagement and the principles and protocols to consider when planning for and engaging with Aboriginal communities for social impact assessment.

Social impact assessments aim to improve social outcomes from projects. This Project Refinements practice note highlights how this should be pursued through early and iterative changes or refinements to projects. It provides examples of how to achieve better social outcomes and showcases how they should be documented in a clear and transparent way.

The Social Impact Management toolbox complements the Social Impact Assessment Guideline by providing guidance on managing social impacts and implementing Social Impact Management Plans (SIMPs).  

It is designed for proponents and their contractors. It includes a range of approaches you can choose for the adaptive and proactive management of social impacts. These can help you move from managing complaints and issues to engaging positively with affected communities.

The Social Impact Assessment Guideline requires a project social locality to be defined. The extent of the social locality should be established on a case-by-case basis and define the areas where people will experience impacts.

The term 'social locality' is similar to, but more specific than, the 'area of social influence', commonly used in social impact assessment practice.

The definition of 'social locality' has been clarified as the area where people experience impacts. We have described the existing social locality examples to provide clearer guidance on how to develop a social locality and consider gradients of social impacts.

Identifying the social locality begins with understanding the nature of the project and the characteristics of affected communities. It also involves identifying where positive and negative impacts may be experienced by different people, including how those impacts vary across the geographical area.

These animations illustrate some of the considerations on defining a social locality of differing complexities.