11/07/13….Thame’s Neighbourhood Plan is a winner – twice!

THAME’S Neighbourhood Plan, which will help steer the development of the town for many years, has won two prestigious planning awards this week.

In an award ceremony held last night in London, the Royal Town Planning Institute presented the planning consultants, Tibbalds, who helped the town council formulate the plan, and the Neighbourhood Plan, picked up the award for ?Innovative use of the planning process ? Plan Making?.

Town Mayor, Cllr Peter Lambert, was in attendance and was delighted with the result saying: ?After all the hard work put into the Neighbourhood Plan I am very pleased and proud to be present when the result was announced. The referendum result demonstrated the confidence the people of Thame have in the Neighbourhood Plan and this award from the RTPI, a highly regarded professional body, reinforces how comprehensive and thorough the Neighbourhood Plan process has been.?

Sue Rowlands, Director of Tibbalds, said: “We are very pleased to have received the RTPI award for innovative plan making, on behalf of everyone who was involved. The plan?making process successfully brought together local people’s interest in (and concern for) the quality of their town’s environment, with our technical planning expertise. The result is a clear and robust vision to shape the future development of Thame. The award also recognises all the energy and enthusiasm that Thame Town Council and residents have put into working with Tibbalds to prepare the Thame Neighbourhood Plan.”

SODC Cllr Angie Paterson, Cabinet Member for Planning, said “Congratulations to the team for winning this prestigious planning award. It’s great to see the people of Thame working together and having real influence over the future of their community. I’m also pleased that the support our officers provided helped to make this happen.”

Helen Stewart, Town Clerk, supported this in saying, ?The award recognises all the hard work that went in to developing what has been described as an exemplar plan and everyone involved should be proud of what Thame has achieved?.

The RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence celebrates the contribution that planners and planning make to society, to highlight exceptional examples of planning and to inspire others to achieve the same high standards.

All entries were rigorously assessed by a panel of judges from across the private, public and third sector chaired by Sir Terry Farrell CBE, the UK?s leading architect planner. Thame Neighbourhood Plan was up against three other projects including the Upper Eden Neighbourhood Development Plan as well as submissions from Croydon Council and SLR Consulting Ltd.

Director of Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design, Hilary Satchell, said ?we are delighted that Tibbalds’ work on the Thame Neighbourhood Plan has been recognised by the RTPI award for innovative plan making. This award is a testament to the way that the various parties involved rose to the challenge of putting in place the first Neighbourhood Plan to allocate land for development. It belongs as much to Thame Town Council, South Oxfordshire District Council and, most importantly, the people of Thame as it does to Tibbalds.”

Award number two!

Earlier in the week, Thame?s Neighbourhood Plan had been awarded a commendation in the Action for Market Towns (AMT) Towns Alive Awards 2013. The awards scheme was founded in 2004 and is described as ?Britain?s top awards for town projects.? It aims to recognise and showcase initiatives that are helping the country?s market towns to adapt to change and flourish and is supported by the Big Lottery Fund.

The Neighbourhood Plan?s commendation comes in the Partnership & Strategic Working Category which celebrates community-led projects, collaborative working and influencing strategic policy. Despite the fierce competition and rigorous judging process from the seven-strong panel of experts, Thame?s Neighbourhood Plan has been identified as a ?high quality? project and was a strong applicant to the competition.