Benoy has won the award for Best Plan ‑Making at the 2023 Planning Awards.
The awards celebrate the outstanding work across the planning and placemaking sectors and recognise excellence in planning and associated placemaking disciplines, including heritage conservation, urban design, economic development, partnership working, environmental consultancy, housing and law.
Benoy worked on the scheme as part of a broader partnership with Sandwell Council, Savills and Mott MacDonald.
The masterplan delivers improved connectivity within the centre and the surrounding neighbourhoods, with an emphasis on sustainable travel and green linkages, with low-carbon travel options to Dartmouth Park and Sandwell valley. This includes improvements to the cycling and walking network to create a sustainable place to support population growth. The proposals moved away from private car as the dominant means of accessing the town through improved walking and cycling routes, connections to public transport and embracing new opportunities for transport such as car clubs, e‑bike hire, e‑scooters and remote working.
The work, together with the Interim Planning Statement, has given the Council an up-to-date policy framework within which strategic decisions on land use, investment and other forms of development can be taken and subsequently delivered.
