The Transport Planning Society (TPS) has revealed the names of the judges responsible for selecting the finalists and winner of its first ever People’s Award for a transport planning project that has improved people’s lives.

The judging panel of will consist of Steve Quartermain, Chief Planner at Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government; Tricia Hayes, Director General for Roads, Motoring and Devolution in the Department of Transport; Stephen Joseph OBE, Former Chief Executive of Campaign for Better Transport; and Mary Parsons, Group Director – Placemaking and Regeneration at Places for People.

The four judges bring a wealth of experience and will be looking for projects and initiatives that have made a genuine contribution to improving people’s accessibility, quality of life and wellbeing, through engaging the local community at an early stage. 

Lynda Addison, Chair of TPS, said: “We’re delighted to have such a high-quality judging panel for our first ever People’s Award. Being able to attract high calibre judges with a broad range of relevant experience is a huge boost for the communities entering the People’s Award. It reinforces our commitment to putting local people at the heart of transport planning.”

The Transport Planning Society’s People’s Award for a transport planning initiative of the year is a major part of the Transport Planning Day campaign. The award focuses on inviting communities to tell the professionals how transport planning projects, whatever they may be, have had a positive impact in their local area. Communities could include parish or town councils, residents’ associations, civic societies or any similar non-professional bodies. 

The awards are open for entries until Friday 17 August and TPS is urging communities to tell them about any of the transport projects that have had a positive impact on their community. Lynda Addison continues: “We’re pleased with the high standard of entries coming in so far. But we need to spread the word about the awards more widely. We want as many local communities as possible to tell the professionals what good looks like.”

The People’s Award finalists will be announced at an afternoon tea reception in the House of Commons hosted by Lilian Greenwood MP on 10 October. The winner will be announced at the Institution of Civil Engineers in London on Transport Planning Day (13 November).