Consultation stars as Mayfield wins planning prize

The Mayfield Strategic Regeneration Framework (SRF) has been recognised by the Royal Town Planning Institute as the ‘Best Planning Policy Document’ in this year’s RTPI North West Awards for Planning Excellence.

Produced by the Mayfield Partnership and its team of technical advisers led by Deloitte, the SRF will guide the development of Mayfield in the coming years. It establishes the broad principles of development and becomes a policy tool used by planners at the local planning authority.

All future detailed planning applications within its boundary will be tested against the content of the SRF.

The RTPI judges made the following observations:

The Mayfield SRF provides a planning document to steer the development of a major new mixed-use neighbourhood in Manchester city centre. The proposed development is nationally significant in terms of its scale and it is rare to find such a sizeable opportunity within a highly developed city centre.

The Judges consider that the SRF represents best practice and sets new standards in the preparation of policy documents to guide city centre neighbourhood-scale renewal.

Deloitte, U + I, and other team members understand the need to incorporate flexibility to support the delivery of such a long term project and the document suitably achieves this, whilst also setting appropriate parameters to drive quality and provide direction. The developer also understands the subtle need to balance a well-managed and safe development with an authentic, organic scheme that reflects the City and can engender ownership by its inhabitants.

Although developed in partnership with Manchester City Council, the SRF incorporates many features and innovations that the developer and planning consultant brought to the project. This includes the early delivery of a sizeable park, the retention of the historic Mayfield Depot and also innovation in the preparation process, notably the exemplary approach to consultation. The SRF is now adopted and we look forward to the implementation of this exciting new neighbourhood.

The SRF will now go forward to the national RTPI finals on 5 October, when the overall winner will be announced.