Telford & Wrekin Council has scooped a prestigious award.

The council has been named Planning Authority of the Year by the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM) at their 2021 awards ceremony.

The award celebrates planning authorities who are proactively championing biodiversity through the planning process.

The CIEEM said Telford & Wrekin Council took the title thanks to their ambition and delivery of plans, policies and strategies, sound decision-making in relation to development and biodiversity-related support, and development of staff involved in the planning process.

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The council's community outreach activities were also recognised in the judging process, along with a number of specific ecology-focussed planning initiatives.

These included its locally-led Great Crested Newt licensing scheme, its student placement scheme with Harper Adams University, an engagement campaign (My Wild Telford) to encourage residents to promote, share and celebrate the green spaces in the borough, and its work to empower local 'Friends' groups to better share knowledge, skills and capacity.

The CIEEM also referenced Telford & Wrekin Council’s focus on green spaces, noting that the authority has committed to protect more than 1,000 hectares of locally important green space in its ownership through its bespoke ‘Green Guarantee’ land management commitment and its Local Wildlife Site and Local Nature Reserve declaration processes.