Ambitious plan for Plymouth's future

An ambitious and pioneering plan setting out a 15 year vision for a dynamic and growing Plymouth has been given the go-ahead by councillors.

Thousands of people who live and work in Plymouth have been involved in the creation of part one of the Plymouth Plan, which provides a single strategic plan that will guide the city’s direction up to 2031.

The plan takes a radical approach by replacing more than 100 existing strategies covering everything from health, opportunities for children and young people, transport and the economy to leisure and culture with a single plan.

The Plymouth Plan, which has now been approved by the full council, has already won a top national award from the Royal Town Planning Institute for the radical way in which residents and partner organisations have been involved in its creation since work started in summer 2013.

Three major consultation stages have involved more than over 3,000 comments, from over 60 public events and involving over 30 different key strategic partners.

The journey to creating the plan has involved debates, discussions, topic papers, interactive online discussions, a pop up shop in the city centre and a Plymouth Plan sofa tour moving around the city to encourage people to have relaxed conversations about their aspirations for the future.

Councillor Mark Coker, Cabinet Member for Strategic Transport and Planning said: “This plan is the result of thousands of conversations with people, communities and businesses and has rightly received national recognition for turning traditional planning on its head and putting people at the heart of the plan.

“The Plan now has unprecedented buy-in and commitment that has broken down the barriers between departments, organisations and communities.

“If you live in Plymouth, shop in Plymouth, work, learn or play in Plymouth, this plan will affect you – it sets out where we want to be by 2031 and what we believe is important as a city.

“We will be continuing with this inclusive approach as work moves onto the next important stage of the plan”

Council leader Tudor Evans said: “This plan is a route map to making Plymouth great – a dynamic and growing city where everyone wants to live.

“Planning has never been done like this before, which is why it has been attracting national attention. The Plan provides Plymouth with one purpose and one voice and it is a result of a passion to work with the community and across organisational boundaries.

“We have tried to make sure it provides a blueprint to ensure everyone – no matter where they live – enjoys a good quality of life and the best health possible.

“This is about providing better environment, access to open space, a fair spread of community facilities, supporting people in living healthier lives and tackling the issues which affect health, such as access to jobs, decent homes, good food and lifestyle opportunities.

“A lot of hard work has gone into this so far and it is gratifying that we’ve had so much interest from other towns and cities in hearing about how we’ve done it.”

Following the Plymouth Plan’s approval, the next phase of the Plymouth Plan can now get underway. Part One of the Plymouth Plan sets out what the city should be like by 2031. Now Part Two will ask the question where and how this should take place.

Residents across the city will be asked to take a good look at their own neighbourhood, as well as the city as a whole, to look at what land could be set aside for homes, for offices and work units and where play areas and open space could be. To find out about more about the Plymouth Plan visit our website www.plymouth.gov.uk/plymouthplan