Ethos Consultants and New Forest District Council have won the Communication Award at the British Parking Awards 2026 for the engagement behind the Council’s new district-wide Parking Strategy. The winners were announced on 18 September 2026 at a gala ceremony at the Royal Lancaster London.
The winning entry, “Giving every community a voice”, recognised the decision to put meaningful communication and engagement at the centre of how the strategy was developed, rather than treating it as a final step.
The Communication Award, sponsored by MiPermit by Unity5, celebrates parking organisations that communicate with the public in creative, engaging and informative ways. The British Parking Awards were created by Parking Review magazine and are organised by Landor LINKS. This year the judges narrowed more than 200 entries down to the shortlists.
Reaching every part of the district
Parking affects communities in very different ways, from busy town centres and coastal areas to rural villages. The engagement programme was designed from the outset to reach a broad cross-section of residents, businesses, visitors, elected members and stakeholders across the New Forest, so that people had a genuine opportunity to influence the future direction of parking policy.
The result was much more than a standard consultation exercise. The feedback gathered created an evidence base that helped the project team understand local priorities, test emerging ideas and shape a strategy grounded in the needs of the communities it will serve.
Speaking in the official award video, Adam Bunce, Managing Director of Ethos Consultants, said: “We made a real effort to try and speak to as many people within the community as we possibly could. It made our lives a lot more difficult because we had a lot more people to speak to. But what it did is it made the final results a lot easier for the local authority to take forward and ultimately deliver.”
His advice to others planning similar projects was simple: “Put the work in, make it harder for yourselves, but the end result is easier to achieve.”
For Ethos, the award reinforces a principle that runs through all of its work: technical expertise is only part of delivering a successful strategy, and listening, communicating clearly and bringing communities along are just as important.
A partnership approach
The award reflects the strength of the partnership between Ethos and New Forest District Council, and the shared commitment to giving local people a voice in decisions that affect their daily lives. A video of the award presentation is available on the Landor LINKS YouTube channel.
Ethos is now encouraging other local authorities and organisations to talk to the team about how a proactive approach to stakeholder engagement could support their own parking projects.
About Ethos Consultants
Ethos Consultants is an award-winning transport and multi-disciplinary design consultancy that delivers sustainable transport solutions across the UK. Founded by Managing Director Adam Bunce in 2013 as 2020 Consultancy and rebranded as Ethos in 2023, the firm offers parking consultancy, active travel and sustainable transport, traffic engineering and road safety, transport planning and decarbonisation, and community and stakeholder engagement. Find out more at ethosconsultants.co.uk.
