22 Orford Street, Ipswich, IP1 2NS
Telephone: 01473 251632 Fax: 01473 217178
Women's Institute members the length and breadth of Suffolk are justifiably puffed up with pride. Our innovative Suffolk Millennium Landscape Recording Project has scooped a Royal Town Planning Institute National Award. We received the Countryside Agency sponsored joint award for Planning for People and Places in Rural England.
The judges said that "this impressive partnership project involving local planning authorities and local WIs throughout Suffolk has resulted in large numbers of local rural communities becoming involved in understanding and appreciating the changes affecting their landscapes and the role of the planning profession". They continued, "In addition there is no doubt from the evidence presented that an increased awareness of environmental pressures on local landscapes is now embedded in a large number of local communities".
In a unique partnership with all the planning authorities throughout Suffolk three quarters of all the WI groups have each adopted a one kilometre square of land and recorded its character twice a year through mapping and photography. Over 1000 WI members and their families have been involved so far in this on-going project.
"This scheme from the start has been an excellent example of partnerships in action" said Councillor Maggy Steen of Suffolk Coastal District Council.
That certainly is one of the most rewarding aspects of the Challenge; the knowledge that co-operation between organisations can result in such major achievement. In isolation no one single group could take on such a vast scheme, working together with commitment and enthusiasm we can make a significant difference.
The other winner of the joint award was Whitlingham Country Park near Norwich.
If you wish to know more about the Landscape Recording Project please contact Suffolk East Federation of WIs on 01473 251632
The innovative Suffolk Millennium Challenge Landscape Recording Project is in the running for a top national prize from the Royal Town Planning Institute, having already won the East of England Town Planning Award in 2000.
Created by a partnership consisting of the Suffolk East and West Federations of Women's Institutes, Suffolk Coasts and Heaths Project, and the Suffolk local authorities, led by Suffolk Coastal District Council, the project has been shortlisted for the Silver Jubilee Cup. The winner will be revealed at the prestigious National Award for Planning Achievement 2001 held on the 30th January in London.
"I am thrilled that this exciting project has been so successful and is making such a valuable contribution to the countryside and local communities. Congratulations to all those who have taken part in this visionary project" said Helen Carey, Chairman of the National Federation of WIs.
The WI groups all over Suffolk, have taken on the task of surveying twice in a year one-kilometre square areas of land and recording with a camera and recording on a map, the make-up of the landscape. Among the features recorded are hedgerows, ditches, field land uses, fences, walls, trees, streams and footpaths.
The landscape recording project was set up in 1998 with surveys of some 156 one square kilometre areas of land being surveys during 1999. All will be resurveyed again in 2004, although interim sample surveys are already revealing changes in our local landscapes. The results of the Challenge form an important part of the local authorities' wider "Suffolk's Environment ……towards sustainable development" project that is assessing the impact of planning policies and everyday planning decisions on our surroundings.
"I would congratulate everyone for their efforts on the Landscape Recording Project, which has rightly earned them this national recognition. This unique scheme allows a truly accurate record to be kept of how our landscapes are changing and how local biodiversity is faring" said Cllr Chris Slemmings, Suffolk Coastal's environment spokesman.
The Royal Town Planning Institute (East of England Branch) 2000 prize for planning achievement was awarded to the Suffolk Millennium Challenge Landscape Recording Project at a prize giving
ceremony at Downing College, Cambridge on 2nd December 2000.
Despite stiff competition from Norfolk, Essex, Cambridge, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, the Suffolk
Project was judged to be the most outstanding planning and social achievement. The 'Domesday' like project, a partnership between the Suffolk East and Suffolk West Federation of Women's Institutes, Suffolk's local planning authorities and the Suffolk Coast & Heaths Project, was set up to measure changes in Suffolk's landscape.
Over 150 Women's Institute groups ventured out into the countryside in January and July 1999 to survey one-kilometre landscape squares recording, photographing and mapping landscapes as well as every tree, hedge, pond and ditch in the area. The resulting information was analysed by Suffolk Coast & Heaths Project and local authority planners before being presented to the public at an exibition in March 2000.
"I am delighted that the significant work of the partnership and the efforts of all involved has been recognised by the RTPI" said Steve Ratcliffe, Senior Planning Officer and Chair of Suffolk Sustainability Appraisal Group. "Such recognition will provide an extra boost for us all over the coming years to the benefit of our local landscapes".
The landscape records will give Suffolk's planners a unique resource. Not only will the information provide an enormous amount of data about Suffolk's environment at the millennium, it will also provide a major date-bank for ongoing reference and comparison enabling local authorities to develop a better understanding of the county's changing landscape and plan accordingly.
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