Effective Delivery of Strategic Sites: A Toolkit for Planning Authorities Wins RTPI Research Excellence Award

The ‘Effective Delivery of Strategic Sites: A Toolkit for Planning Authorities’ has won at the RTPI Awards for Research Excellence 2022. The Toolkit, which won the Planning Practitioner category, was described by the Judges as “an excellent piece of contemporary research in a priority area for the roles of the economy and is linked to sustainability” and was praised for generating ”a comprehensive overview assisted by clear mapping and graphics, and the use of case studies complemented the overall approach.’’ David Lock Associates delivered the research with the LGA and PAS, to help combat the challenges of allocating and delivering development at scale. The interactive Toolkit is designed to assist local planning authorities and their partners to navigate the planning processes associated with strategic sites, referencing a variety of case studies from across the country to signpost key considerations which affect decision making at each stage. Heather Pugh, who led the project team and attended the awards said: “we're delighted to have won this prestigious award, especially when up against such high calibre competition.  We are particularly pleased that the Judges recognised the value of our mapping and graphics in ensuring the research outputs generated a user-friendly and navigable Toolkit for planning practitioners.”