SARA wins State-wide Planning Awards

SARA wins State-wide Planning Awards

The Department of State Development Infrastructure and Planning’s (DSDIP) State Assessment and Referral Agency (SARA) has claimed the Overall Winner Award in the Queensland-wide Planning Institute of Australia’s (PIA) 2013 Awards for Planning Excellence.

At a ceremony held in Mackay on Friday 8 November, DSDIP’s Regional Services and Planning groups were honoured for delivering the new state referral and development assessment regime, developed to streamline the development application process.

The Department and SARA were also awarded the 2013 Improving Planning Processes and Practices Award.

Planning Institute of Australia state president Kate Isles said they were very pleased with the calibre of entries in this year’s awards.

“Each year we are inspired by the entries we receive for projects which are helping to shape our state, and this year’s recipients prove that the future of Queensland is in good hands,” Ms Isles said.”

“SARA is an excellent response to repeated calls from industry to address timing and cost inefficiencies caused by having multiple referral triggers for development applications to multiple State agencies.

“SARA represents a significant step forward in centralising State referrals and provides stakeholders with more certainty, transparency and consistency in relation to the assessment of applications referred to the State.

“Congratulations go to all of the commendations and award recipients this year as they continue to set the standard for planning excellence in Queensland.”

This year marks the 27th annual Awards for Planning Excellence in Queensland, with 15 awards presented and more than 60 entries received from across the state.

The Planning Institute of Australia is the national body representing the planning profession. Through education, communication and professional development, PIA is the pivotal organisation serving and guiding thousands of planning professionals in their role to create better communities.

For more information visit www.planning.org.au/qld.

About the Author

Comments are closed.