Waipā District Council has claimed a national award for outstanding creativity, innovation and service to the community in its work on a long-term plan for the future of Pirongia.
Council, in partnership with consultants AECOM, was named the winner of the Best Practice Award in the non-statutory planning category at the New Zealand Planning Institute (NZPI) awards, held in Nelson earlier this week.
The award, which is reserved for projects that go above and beyond legal requirements to engage with residents in planning processes, was scooped up for work on the Pirongia Village Concept Plan Refresh campaign run last year.
Waipā District Council strategic manager Kirsty Downey said judges praised the team for its work with students at Pirongia School as part of the project.
“The team was lucky to be able to work closely with the local school and the brilliant young students there. This is often a group which misses out on these types of discussions so to have them involved so extensively gave the team valuable insight into what the youth of Pirongia would like to see for the future of their town.”
The Pirongia Village Concept Plan Refresh is an aspirational document that sets out a shared vision for the future of the town and key objectives to make that vision a reality.
The objectives in the refreshed document include improving access to the Waipā river, providing more recreational places for youth and making it safer for children to walk and cycle to school.
The plan also sets out a clear list of actions to achieve the objectives over the next 10 years – an aspect which also drew praise from the judges.
Downey said the campaign was an exemplary piece of work that demonstrated Council’s commitment to working closely with its communities to determine the futures of their towns.
It is the first time Council has won the award.
