South Australia’s City of Playford has gained international recognition at the prestigious Nations in Bloom competition, held this year in Apeldoorn, The Netherlands. The objectives of Nations in Bloom include the improvement in the quality of life, through the creation of liveable communities, the exchange of good practice relating to the management of the environment and the encouragement of new initiatives.
Playford beat 24 other entrants from 15 countries and gained the prestigious Planning for the Future Award ahead of cities including Chicago in USA, Quanzhou in China, Enkoping in Sweden and Tshwane (formally Pretoria) in South Africa.
Planning for the Future recognises the structures and plans Playford has put in place to respond to the many challenges faced by our diverse community, particularly through supporting a variety of strategies which focus on ensuring economic prosperity, improving community wellbeing and enhancing environmental care. Playford also received a silver medal recognising the overall achievements made by the City over the past six years, since its successful amalgamation.
Council has actively instigated new services, improved the financial sustainability of the City and is recognised for its management of the City’s resources, ensuring the best outcomes for a sustainable community while protecting its environmental resources.
The organisers of Nations in Bloom 2003 said this year’s competition produced the highest examples of international best practice and the tightest competition in the seven years of the competition.
Playford Mayor Marilyn Baker and Kevin Lowe, Group Manager Parks and Recreation, represented the City of Playford at the finals. They provided a highly regarded overview of the challenges facing the City of Playford and how Council and the community are responding to key issues.
“We have made enormous progress over the past six years and if we can achieve our key goals we will have a sustainable community,” Mayor Marilyn Baker said.
She said that the big challenge was to bridge the cultural differences between an urban and rural community, which Playford has succeeded in doing.
Broken down into population categories, Playford was judged against other Cities with average daytime populations between 20,000 and 75,000. As well as recognising the progress made by Playford in recent years, the Nations in Bloom Finals also enabled Council to gain an understanding of other communities’ experiences and share ideas, resulting in strong support systems and networking relations being developed.
For further information contact Kevin Lowe, phone (08) 8254 0405 or email klowe@playford.sa.gov.au
