UK’s best local authority planning teams to be recognised at RTPI Awards 2021

The best planning teams from councils around the UK have been recognised in the list of finalists for the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) Awards for Planning Excellence 2021.

Finalists in the Local Authority Planning Team of the Year category at this year’s RTPI Awards are:

London Borough of Hackney

The 60 planners at Hackney Council have been shortlisted for Planning Authority Team of the Year at the RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence for their work over the past 12 months, which has included consulting on a Supplementary Planning Document which would establish child-friendly principles and design guidelines in the borough. The team also had to demonstrate resilience and quick-thinking to cope with a serious cyberattack which resulted in the loss of access to 400 live applications and many thousands of historic planning records.

London Borough of Barnet

The planning enforcement team at Barnet Council has been shortlisted for Planning Authority Team of the Year at the RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence for its forward-thinking, proactive approach to development. Collaboration is a key part of its work – over the course of 2019/20, the team has worked with agencies including Counter Terrorism policing, Natural England and the Fire Brigade, as well as the Council’s Community Safety team on cases where there is a correlation with crime and anti-social behaviour.

Preston City Council

The planning team at Preston Council has been shortlisted for Planning Authority Team of the Year at the RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence for a series of inclusive, community-focused initiatives including the award-winning Preston City Living Strategy which has ‘de-risked’ residential brownfield sites in Inner Preston to attract private investment. The council’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic has also been recognised with members of the planning team carrying out a range of emergency functions to help vulnerable people.

Plymouth City Council

Plymouth’s Development Management Service has been shortlisted for Planning Authority Team of the Year at the RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence for maintaining a consistently excellent level of performance over the last decade. It has demonstrated a commitment to inclusive planning through projects such as the award-winning Pilgrim Court which involved innovative partnership working between planning, housing and adult social care professionals to meet the needs of residents with learning disabilities.

The RTPI’s annual Awards for Planning Excellence are the longest-running and most respected in the UK planning industry. The awards celebrate exceptional examples of planning and the contribution planners make to society not just throughout the UK but internationally.

The climax of the ceremony, which will take place on virtual platform, The Awards Room by Evessio, on 29 April, will be the presentation of the Silver Jubilee Cup, awarded to the project adjudged best overall.

In total, 93 projects, teams and individuals across 15 categories have been selected by the independent judges this year. A new category for this year is Planning Heroes in a Pandemic, recognising the innovative work of planners in response to Covid-19.

The judging panel in 2021 will be chaired by Dyan Currie HonMRTPI, chief planner at Brisbane City Council, Australia and immediate Past President of the Commonwealth Association of Planners.

RTPI President Wei Yang FRTPI said: “For more than 40 years, these prestigious awards have celebrated the exceptional work undertaken by town planners. In the middle of a global pandemic, I believe they are more relevant than ever before as we showcase the very best of our profession from all the RTPI’s regions and nations and from countries around the world.

“I am particularly pleased to see this year a new category has been created to recognise the incredible commitment and dedication of planners who have risen to the challenge of responding to the impacts of Covid-19 on the planning system.

“I wish all the finalists the very best of luck at the ceremony.”

Sarah Elliott MRTPI, UK&I Town Planning Lead for Buildings and Places at headline sponsor AECOM, said: “AECOM is proud to once again be a headline sponsor of this year’s RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence. The finalists are a diverse mixture of outstanding examples of planning, including new responses driven by the pandemic and climate change. Once again this demonstrates the breadth of the impact the profession has on quality place making and delivery in the built environment, alongside our resilience to evolve and adapt.”