18 June 2025
The Infrastructure and Environment Department was successful in winning two
awards at the Royal Town Planning Institute, RTPI, South West Awards for Planning
Excellence.
Marine Resources received the ‘Best Plan’ award for its work on Jersey’s Marine
Spatial Plan. In particular, the plan’s visions to create a thriving marine environment
and provide environmental, economic, cultural, and social benefits.
RTPI Judges' comments: "In selecting this entry to win this award, the judges felt that
this was a very well-crafted submission, with an excellent balance of aspiration,
practical application and evidence of cross-transferability and innovation. The wide-ranging scope of the study, inter-relationship with international objectives and links to
the Island Bridging Plan is impressive.
"Unanimous political support and evidence of
exemplary recognition from well-respected organisations cannot be overlooked, neither
can its relevance and inspiration in the formation of plans in Scotland and the Red Sea.
Judges consider it a worthy winner of the category as an 'excellent' and innovative
example of evidenced-based and collaborative plan making."
Francis Binney, Head of Marine Resources, said: “We are really chuffed that the Jersey
Marine Spatial Plan won ‘Best Plan’ at the South West RTPI awards. Building the
Marine Spatial Plan was a huge collaborative effort between Government, industry,
and Islanders with an interest in the sea. This is a great endorsement of how we are
managing and planning to manage Jersey’s territorial seas.”
Andrew Marx, Head of Development and Land in Regulation ,received the
‘Unsung Planning Hero’ award. He was recognised for delivering transformational
leadership in the face of considerable scrutiny and challenge, and overseeing a
comprehensive reform of Jersey’s Planning Service in response to an independent
review.
RTPI Judges' comments: “The nomination set out Andrew’s positive and proactive
planning reform, resulting in wider improvements for the planning service. The
introduction of an industry partnership board for collaborative working enabled greater
transparency in terms of performance. Leading reform and taking the team with you
whilst increasing visibility of planning performance and stakeholder engagement is
really challenging, and to be nominated in the successful delivery of this speaks so
highly of how this has been approached.”
Andrew Marx said: "I was honoured and humbled to be nominated for the award, and I
wish to share the recognition with our Group Director Kelly Whitehead, all our planners
and the technical support and regulatory improvement officers that have worked
tirelessly to improve our planning services for the benefit of all Islanders. I wish to
thank the Minister for the Environment, Deputy Steve Luce, for his trust and support, and
the Members of the Industry Partnership Board for their guidance and positive
engagement with our planning reform programme."
Additionally, Tracey Ingle, Principal Planning Officer, was commended for the
‘Unsung Planning Hero’ award. The judges commented: “The nomination highlighted
Tracey’s collaborative ways of working and through the six-month secondment to reform
Development Management, processes and procedures were sympathetically managed
and changed to support colleagues to work more efficiently and increase quality of
decisions.”
For more information, visit: RTPI South West Awards for Planning Excellence.
gov.je