Grade G H £34,434
Contract 2-year fixed term contract
Essential Requirements: valid current UK driving licence, A recognised degree in town planning, geography, transport, environmental science, or a related subject
Interview date: to be confirmed
Salary: £34,434 to £41,771 (pay award pending)
We’re looking for an ambitious Planning Officer to join our Development Management team and help shape high-quality, sustainable development across the area. This is a career-graded role, offering genuine progression as your skills, confidence and professional judgement grow.
You’ll lead on assessing, negotiating and recommending planning applications from minor schemes to more significant and complex developments as you advance through the grades. You’ll prepare appeal statements, attend hearings, and provide clear, professional advice to applicants, colleagues and elected members.
You’ll play an active role in improving how we work, supporting service priorities, and building strong relationships with communities and partners. At higher grade, you’ll handle more challenging cases, manage sensitive customer issues and help guide junior team members.
This is your opportunity to contribute to high-quality development and play a key role in delivering our vision for the borough. If you want to develop your planning career in a positive, forward-thinking service where your work has a real impact, we’d love to hear from you.
About You: Our ideal candidate will be motivated, organised and confident taking responsibility for your own caseload. You’ll enjoy analysing proposals, finding solutions, and making well‑reasoned planning decisions, even when things get busy. You’ll stay calm under pressure, and thrive in a changing and fast‑paced environment, delivering a reliable, high‑quality service.
You will have a solid understanding of planning policy and legislation, strong communication skills, and the confidence to negotiate with applicants and explain your recommendations clearly. You’ll be able to build positive relationships with colleagues, communities and elected members and be comfortable representing the Council professionally.
We’re looking for someone to grow with the role, able to take on more responsibility as you progress, deal with increasingly complex work, and support others when needed. Most importantly, you’ll be adaptable, positive and passionate about delivering great outcomes for people and places.
Benefits: We offer a generous annual leave allowance, flexible work opportunities, access to a Pension Scheme, as well as a range of employee wellbeing and support services.
Legal: This post is a designated customer facing role under the fluency duty and requires a specified level of spoken English as per the person specification.