Liverpool City Region Combined Authority wins prestigious national planning award for innovative consultation

THE Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has won a prestigious national planning award for its innovative approach to engaging with local people. Launched by Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region:- "LCR Listens - Our Places" has won the Planning Award 2020 for stakeholder engagement in planning (plan making). Carried out last Autumn, the engagement project set out to try and understand local people's views on where they live, to inform the development of the City region's Spatial Development Strategy. The Spatial Development Strategy will be the blue print for development over the next 20 years, aiming to make the City region a more prosperous, healthier and greener place to live, work, invest in, and visit. 'LCR Listens - Our Places' set out specifically to target people from groups who traditionally do not engage with the planning. Of 2500 respondents to the engagement exercise, more than 42% were young people, more than ½ were from neighbourhoods among the most deprived 10% in the country, and 18% were from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities. Organised annually by Planning Magazine, the Planning Awards recognise excellence in planning and place making in the UK, across the public, private and VCFS sectors.

Speaking about LCR Listens: Our Spaces, Steve Rotheram said:- "I'd like to thank everyone in the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority involved in delivering:- 'LCR Listens - Our Places;' this award is testimony to their hard work. We carried out this engagement because devolution has to mean bringing decisions closer to the people. Since we launched the LCR Listens approach last summer we have engaged with thousands of our residents and I'm particularly pleased that with this exercise we've so successfully reached people who traditionally haven't been involved in the planning process. Through LCR Listens:- Our Places we made sure that every community had the opportunity to shape our spatial plan, because it is ultimately their plan, and will shape the places where they live for years to come."

Waste PPE could be the next major ecological disaster

DISCARDED PPE becoming a major environmental risk and a health risk, and is now replacing carrier bags and straws as being 1 of the most common things littering the beach and the countryside. As people continue to litter the as the increasing amount of face masks and disposable gloves being dropped, for health authorities, the contamination risk is an even more of an immediate concern. It's clear that single use face masks are creating an enormous amount of waste, worldwide. A World Health Organisation (WHO) report has found that even if only 1% of face masks are disposed incorrectly, around 10,000,000 will still end up in the environment each month!

In many jurisdictions they are now mandatory for going out in public, leading to a worldwide boomed in sales of single use surgical masks. But interestingly, in the UK, the official guidance for England is already to wear a reusable, washable face coverings where possible. Not only are reusable masks more environmentally friendly, but also better on the pocket as well.

In the UK, the Liberal Democrats have said that single use surgical masks caused:- "enormous" plastic waste and that environmentally friendly alternatives must be promoted. A statement that has been echoed by the Green Party, who added that they want the media to show less of them. The idea being that if this happens it stop single use face masks from being:- "normalised."

Despite fake news about face masks, the use of masks are vital in the fight against the virus. That is why they have been made compulsory on public transport since 15 June 2020 and compulsory in shops since 24 July 2020, within England.

if you are 1 of the many volunteers helping to clean up this hazardous litter, please remember to stay safe doing so. If you collect littered face coverings or PPE, handle these with care. Dispose of them in a ‘black bag’ bin, not in a recycling bin.

How to dispose of your personal or business waste, including face coverings and personal protective equipment (PPE), during the Coronavirus Pandemic, in the UK, on the Government website.