Porirua City Council's award winning Villages Planning Programme will be in the spotlight when Local Government Minister Rodney Hide visits the city on Wednesday (September 9).

The innovative programme and its work with communities topped 44 entries to win the supreme award at the annual New Zealand Post Local Government Excellence Awards. The announcement was made at the opening of the New Zealand Society of Local Government Mangers Conference in Palmerston North on Sunday night.

Porirua Mayor Jenny Brash has invited Mr Hide to visit the city to hear about its successes, in particular the Village Planning Programme and what can be achieved when Councils work closely with their communities.

During his visit, Mr Hide will receive a presentation and then tour the city to see work being undertaken through the programme.

The Villages Planning Programme is believed to be unique in New Zealand in the way it allows communities to develop plans for their own neighbourhoods and then work with council and other agencies to see them through.

Mayor Jenny Brash says the supreme award win is a wonderful endorsement of the programme, which has revolutionised the way council works with its communities.

"The Villages Planning Programme has allowed our communities to develop plans in their own way to reflect the distinct identity of their suburb. That is not something we would have got with a top-down; one-size fits all approach," says Mayor Brash.

"It has been great to see the energy, passion and ownership coming from the community itself."

Council Chief Executive Roger Blakeley says the judges commented that Porirua's Village Planning Programme award entry really stood out from the rest for its innovation and for the effectiveness of its community driven approach.

"My congratulations to the staff and members of the community who have worked so hard to make the programme a success."

Announcing the award, the judging panel said it was very impressed by the project and liked the community driven approach.

"This is an example of real relationship building based on meaningful multi-level community engagement."

The judges noted that the Porirua Council's programme was the best and most complete of several entries featuring the "very positive emergence" of projects that brought community engagement around council planning processes down from "whole-of-district" to the level of the towns, suburbs and villages where people actually live.

The Village Planning Programme was launched in 2003. So far, eight Porirua communities have engaged in the Village Planning process and their plans have been hugely diverse, reflecting the differing character of the villages.

Projects requested have included everything from a new waterfront promenade and skatepark, to a beach management plan and walkway festival.

The response from the community has been overwhelmingly positive. It is being reflected in a noticeable increase in community pride and a deeper relationship between Council and its communities.