Council wins two planning excellence awards

Friday, 22 November 2019

Penrith Council has been recognised for excellence in planning by the Planning Institute Australia (NSW) after it received two awards for its Open Space Reinvestment Project in Erskine Park. The project was awarded the Best Planning Idea – Small Project, and the Hard Won Victory categories.

The project was developed in response to the ongoing challenge faced by Council to fund the delivery of contemporary recreation spaces in our older established suburbs of Penrith.

Both awards recognised that the project applied innovative solutions, including significant community participation and used planning tools and techniques to address challenges, resulting in significant community benefit.  By 2021, the project will have generated around $5.3mil for reinvestment back into the open space network in Erskine Park.

Penrith Mayor Ross Fowler OAM congratulated Council on developing and delivering the project and thanked the Erskine Park community for their participation and partnership with Council to shape the delivery of improvements to the open space network and offering in Erskine Park.

“These awards recognise the hard work and the equally hard conversations that Council and the community had by coming together to reach an agreement to fund new open space projects within Erskine Park,” Cr Fowler said.

“Council is committed to giving all residents access to high quality open spaces, we are also committed to working with communities to deliver the best possible outcomes and through effective community engagement, something this award recognises.

“The project will have injected around $5.3million in funding for open space renewal and improvements in Erskine Park by the time it is completed.

“What the judging panel liked about this project was Council’s leadership in working alongside the community and that it was a project that other Councils could take note from and transfer the knowledge gained in other Local Government Areas,” Cr Fowler said.

The innovative project was a collaboration across Council’s Property Development, Community Facilities and Recreation, Corporate Planning, Asset Management, Engineering Services, Development Services, Communications and City Planning teams. It is a great example of what Council, working with our community can achieve. The project team also partnered with Clouston Associates to develop the planning framework that underpinned the project and Kathy Jones and Associates (KJA) to design and assist in the implementation of the community consultation strategy.

Information contained within this news release was correct as at Friday, 22 November 2019.