The Corporation has been successful in applications to two separate and prestigious Government funding schemes, known as the Digital Planning Improvement Fund and the Prop Tech Innovation Fund.
It means the City’s officers will have additional resource to adopt more modern and accessible practices for the planning system, in order to boost growth in the built environment sector, encourage innovation and increase engagement.
In what the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities described as a highly competitive field, the City Corporation are one of 11 Local Planning Authorities to have been successful across both funding pools.
The Digital Planning Improvement Fund is aimed at supporting Local Planning Authorities to develop their digital maturity and implement a more efficient planning system. It will enable the City make better use of planning data and enhance its digital capabilities, to improve the processing speed of planning applications. The funding award also grants the City access to an Open Digital Planning community where it can collaborate and learn best practice from other planning teams.
The PropTech Innovation Fund will enable the City Corporation to begin work on a pioneering project, with partner applicants Southampton City Council, to create 3D accessible web maps for the public, that will deliver a more engaging and informative way to visualise key pieces of planning policy.
Chairman of the Corporation Planning and Transportation Committee, Shravan Joshi, said:
“The City’s Planning Division are highly deserving recipients of this funding and will put it to good use. The future of planning is digital and, as our work to date on 3D modelling shows, the City Corporation want to play our part in modernising the planning system to benefit everyone.
“We are grateful to the Government for making this funding available and are looking forward to working with Southampton City Council and other partners as we deliver these exciting projects.”
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