LOCH Lomond and The Trossachs National Park’s innovative Local Development Plan secured a Scottish Award for Quality in Planning at one of the government’s most prestigious events last week.

The accolade comes on the eve of the Plan’s ‘adoption’ as the legal document against which all planning decisions in the National Park are made.

The award-winning plan (called LIVE Park as it is all about making the National Park a great place to Live, Invest, Visit and Experience) covers the period 2017 to 2027 and sets out a vision for how the National Park should change over the next 20 years.

It's also about the strategy needed to deliver the physical development.

It identifies new opportunities and the development needed to support the Park’s communities, visitors and local economy, whilst ensuring the ongoing conservation and enjoyment of the area’s outstanding natural environment.

The Park Authority won an award in the Plans category, for “Bringing the Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Development Plan to Life.”

The Scottish Award for Quality in Planning recognises the innovative approach taken by the Park Authority in making the new plan a visual, simple and user friendly document.

The judges for this year’s Awards said: "The Judges have given this an award because of the simplicity, clarity and graphic style adopted for the Local Development Plan.

"The document had a strong sustainable approach towards shaping the ‘place.’

"There had been a lot of attention paid to getting the right balance of text and images – with an emphasis on the latter.

"Plus, the plan was simply themed by sustainability, climate change, design and placemaking.

"Overall, the Judges felt that the Plan pushed the agenda in terms of setting a precedent for plan-making."

Following the awards ceremony Stuart Mearns, head of planning and rural development for the National Park said: "Winning this award just at the moment when we are about to adopt our Proposed Local Development Plan, is a wonderful recognition of the dedicated, creative work done by the team over the past few years to work with all communities and stakeholders to establish an approach to planning for the future of the Park which reflects their needs and aspirations.

"Through our LIVE Park project, we aimed to deliver a new style of Development Plan with the planning content communicated clearly to a wider audience.

"We did this by actively seeking the involvement of people and organisations that may not normally input into the planning development process, by doing a wide range of face-to-face events and by offering ways for people to get involved online.

"We worked with people ranging from high school pupils and parents to small businesses and community groups.

"The Local Development Plan that emerged from this process, is one that represents the diverse aspirations, needs, sensitivities and opportunities that are essential to good quality development in the special environment of our National Park."