Planning Officer (Strategic Planning)

We are growing our Planning Service and looking for an ambitious planner seeking to make the first step into a career in planning or to extend your current experience.  West Devon Borough and South Hams District Councils are shared authorities with an exciting, innovative, and forward-looking delivery model.

 

You will be working in a beautiful area of the country, combining the coasts and estuaries of South Hams with the outstanding landscapes in the shadow of Dartmoor National Park.  The areas are rich in biodiversity, amazing landscapes, fantastic seaside and historic towns and villages. We are part of the Devon and Cornwall Mining World Heritage Site, there are two AONB’s, plenty of Conservation Areas and lots of listed buildings.  We think it’s a truly outstanding place to work, that will offer the right candidate valuable experience in plan making under the new Government Agenda, and an opportunity to shape a sustainable future as the Council embarks on a review of its Joint Local Plan.

 

South Hams and West Devon have an excellent record as joint local authority’s in exploring new ways to approach planning policy work. We have been working with Plymouth City Council over the last few years to deliver our Joint Local Plan (The Plymouth and Southwest Devon Joint Local Plan 2019 – 2034), which was adopted by all 3 Councils in 2019. Since the adoption of the Plan, we have been successful in securing grant funding and delivering award winning pathfinding projects with Central Government to help define the potential future of the planning system and planning practice.

 

We are looking for a motivated and qualified planning officer to support us to continue taking a proactive digital approach to strategic planning. This is an exciting time to be involved in the team and shape our long-term future approach to plan making and we are looking for candidates who are keen to work with our team of officers to build on and explore new methods of using and communicating planning data to support spatial planning and Local Plan reviews.

 

The ideal candidate should:

1. Be qualified to degree level (or equivalent) within a Planning related discipline and be either, a member of the RTPI or be willing to work towards membership.  (We also welcome applicants at the start of their planning career who are eager to learn and develop their knowledge as a planning officer).
2. Have a good working knowledge of the planning system and in particular planning policy.
3. Have experience of working in planning practice and an enthusiasm to develop further.
4. Understand GIS systems and/or has a willingness to learn and is willing to champion new approaches to working within our planning policy service.
5. Be a strong communicator and able to work proactively with our wider service and partnership authorities to deliver projects including our Digital Plan making data.
6. Think strategically, learn about, and propose potential digital and real solutions to local priorities working directly with senior planning officers and mapping officers.
7. Be keen to support senior planning officers to work on planning problems utilising our mapping and data visualisation software.
8. Support wider spatial planning topic areas and evidence gathering as required.

 

In return, we offer an environment which is supportive, where innovation is sought, and efficiency is key. We also offer the following benefits:

 

• Flexible working options (including remote working)
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Staff benefit schemes
• Employee Assistance Programme

 

For further information or an informal discussion, please contact Jac Houslander, Head of Development Management at jacqueline.houslander@swdevon.gov.uk or 01803 861551.

Closing date: Monday 9 December 2024

Interviews are expected to be held: Thursday 19 December 2024