Plymouth’s Plan for Homes wins top planning award

Plymouth City Council’s ‘Plan for Homes’ has won a top regional planning award and has been shortlisted for a national award.

Plan for Homes won the overall award in the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) South West Awards for Planning Excellence. It has also been shortlisted for an RTPI national award in the category ‘Excellence in Planning to Deliver Housing’.

Phil Bisatt, RTPI South West Chair 2016 and member of the Awards Judging Panel said: “I was impressed by the high standard of the Award entries, but the Plymouth ‘Plan for Homes’ stood out as the overall winner. The Plan is a fine example of a Local Authority recognising its unique position and ability to act as a facilitator rather than being simply a policy maker and regulator. Once again, Plymouth has provided an excellent template for other local authorities to follow, both in the South West and nationally.”

Since the original Plan for Homes was launched in 2013 the Council has already delivered 989 ‘start on sites’, released over 138 acres of Council owned land for development, brought 78 empty homes back into use and identified 112 sites for self and custom build homes.

The refreshed Plan for Homes 2016 – 2021 was launched earlier in the year and is an £80 million plan which aims to deliver 5,000 new homes over the next five years and create up to 2,000 construction and job training opportunities.

The Plan includes £1 million to tackle empty homes, financial support for self and custom build and specialist housing, a £3 million Housing Infrastructure Fund, £30 million land acquisition fund, and an affordable housing loan facility.

Paul Barnard, Assistant Director for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure for Plymouth City Council, said: “We are delighted to have won this prestigious regional award and also to be shortlisted for a national RTPI award. It is a fantastic achievement and a reflection of all the hard work and dedication of our officers.”

The RTPI South West Planning Awards will take place in Plymouth, on a date and venue to be confirmed.

The national RTIPI awards take place in London on Thursday 5 May.