Wrexham Council bags national award for ‘Smart City’ plans

Wrexham Council has received a national award for its plans to develop the use of technology to help manage and improve the city centre.

The council beat off stiff competition from across Wales to win the Excellence in Plan Making award from the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI).

It recognises “excellent practice in developing plans that will help shape the future of towns and cities – particularly plans that are unique and innovative.”

The council bagged the award on the back of its Digital Place Plan, which was drawn up to support Wrexham’s journey towards becoming a ‘SMART City’ – where technology is used to help increase footfall and spending, improve traffic management, save energy and create cleaner and safer streets.

“This award is fantastic recognition for the council and highlights our expertise when it comes to putting together well thought-out and innovative plans for the city centre”, said Councillor Hugh Jones, Wrexham Council’s Lead Member for Planning.

“I’d like to thank staff for their hard work and look forward to seeing the Digital Place Plan help shape the future of Wrexham.”

The Digital Place Plan was adopted by the council’s Employment, Business and Investment Scrutiny Committee in early 2023, which includes initiatives including the launch of a city centre visitors’ app called VZTA (download it on the App Store or get it on Google Play).

The app is a digital platform where local independent businesses have the ability to promote themselves to users of, and visitors to Wrexham.

It was developed in partnership with Near Me Now, which has developed the platform for use in other Welsh towns.

This means that when users visit another place using the app, they can immediately toggle to that place or indeed see the Wrexham offer from their own location.

There are also plans to install so-called “smart” benches, which use solar energy to power the battery of mobile devices, on the city’s High Street.

Councillor Nigel Williams, Lead Member for Economy, said: “Since the plan was adopted, Wrexham has made huge strides in its aspiration of being a truly smart city.

“Wrexham is leading the way in Wales as a smart city and was recently chosen to host the first national smart town conference, with over 100 companies and local authorities from across Wales attending the event at Ty Pawb.

“Our work has also been recognised and highlighted by international press agencies. The digital place plan is innovative, ambitious and practical, and I’m delighted that its quality has been recognised by the RTPI.

“A big thank you to all officers involved in helping deliver the plan.”