Plymouth Council’s local plan has beaten 97 entrants including the Olympic Bid to win the Royal Town Planning Institute’s (RTPI) highest award for planning in the UK.
Judges awarded Plymouth Council’s Local Development Framework (LDF) the Silver Jubilee Cup hailing it as “a clear, distinct and radical vision for the future” despite the Lower Lea Valley Regeneration & Olympic & Paralympic Games & Legacy Project being amongst the18 finalists for this award.
The award for Planning Process Implementation was also taken by Plymouth’s LDF.
The Plymouth LDF presents a long term view of economic and population growth and promotes the concept of sustainable linked communities, using urban design principles, urban form and spatial planning.
The Awards judges said: “Plymouth has in our view shown in an exemplary fashion how the new system can be used, in a flexible and dynamic way, to convert their vision for the future of the City into a set of new-style statutory plans.
“They are in the process of doing this rapidly, comprehensively, and professionally.
“Their work sets a shining example to other Local Authorities who seem daunted by the apparent complexity of the new system and have yet to come to terms with its potential benefits.”
This year 97 submissions covering a wide spectrum of planning activities, ranging from those with metropolitan planning significance to small scale initiatives for local planning problems were submitted in the Planning Awards.
Entries were initially assessed against the following criteria:
· Enhancement of the physical environment leading to recognisable social and economic benefit in terms of human happiness, greater safety and greater efficiency.
· Originality of the achievement or approach.
· Quality of the professional work involved in project design, the development of planning concepts and the application of planning techniques.
· Extent to which the achievement may serve as a model for work elsewhere or as a basis for the development of further related schemes.
· Role played by the planner as enabler and co-ordinator.
· Extent to which planners have worked in partnership with other agencies and the community.
References: EGi News 02/02/06
