On the 23rd June 2014 Sandwell Council won the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) Local Authority Planning Team of the Year Award for Planning Excellence.  The award was presented to Sandwell on account of the transformation from a traditional planning service to one that has a modern outlook, a pro-active approach to development and is delivering significant development in times of economic difficulty. Despite the challenging circumstances, Sandwell has succeeded in attracting inward investment and the borough is full of development activity.

Sandwell was recognised by the judges for being a pro-active planning service, an example of best practice to other local planning authorities.  There were 63 projects, consultancies and Local Authority teams competing across ten categories with Sandwell winning best Local Authority against six other authorities, including Birmingham and Wolverhampton.

Winning the award is recognition from the RTPI of Sandwell’s national contribution to planning and demonstrates how significant schemes can be delivered speedily.  The award was considered even more prestigious as it was the first year this category appeared at the awards, and it is also the year in which the RTPI celebrate their centenery year.

The application included numerous best practice case studies for our innovative approach to the development of Sandwell’s brownfield sites; planning enforcement and our regeneration projects.

The ceremony took place at the Shaw Theatre in the Pullman London St Pancras on 23rd June 2014.

The submission for the award was supported by referees who have worked closely with the authority to deliver regeneration projects in the Borough.  These include Nathaniel Lichfield Partners, our partners on the New Square scheme in West Bromwich who also won the Planning Consultancy of the Year Award, Places for People Leisure (formally DC Leisure) who we worked with to deliver the new leisure centre in West Bromwich, and Gill Properties who we supported throughout the planning and refurbishment works at Orchard Court in Wednesbury.