Corporate Lead: Principal Planning Officer – Strategy Policy and Improvement

About us

The council has come a long way over the past few years. We are already winning awards, but our ambition is much greater than being good. We want to become a recognised leader in excellent public service and help improve more lives at a faster rate than ever before. We will achieve that by bringing together our residents, partners and other stakeholders to solve problems and create more opportunities.

We have just established a new strategy and policy function for the council. Our teams will play a central role in delivering change at pace across the entire council with a focus on digital innovation and partnership working to achieve the best outcomes we can for our residents and businesses.

Our new operating model brings together roles across the council in professional job families. They will benefit from professional leadership and development programmes co-ordinated by our Corporate Strategy and Transformation Service within the Chief Executive's Office.

We would like you to join us on this exciting journey. Bring your skills and expertise to Tower Hamlets to drive our transformation and make a real difference to people's lives in one of the most exciting areas of London.

About the role

Tower Hamlets is one of the fastest growing areas in Europe. The level of growth within the borough presents a number of complex challenges as well as exponential opportunities to deliver improved outcomes for residents.

Shaping development and infrastructure across the borough is particularly crucial to maximising opportunities for residents and providing access to homes, jobs, spaces and services to meet growing demand. It is truly cross cutting, involving coordination and engagement across a number of partners and council services to deliver impactful outcomes for those that live work and visit the borough.

An exciting opportunity has arisen in the newly formed Strategy, Policy & Improvement Service which enables the council to both meet the challenges and capitalise on the opportunities presented by growth.

As the Corporate Lead for Planning within the ‘Enabling Place’ function, you will play an impactful leadership role, providing a crucial link to existing Strategic Planning and Infrastructure services. The role is vital in ensuring that relevant council departments feed into the development and implementation of the council’s planning policy and ensure that spatial planning related policy is developed in a holistic way.

About you

To fulfil this role effectively, you will need to demonstrate:

- Eligibility for chartered membership of the Royal Town Planning Institute.

- Comprehensive knowledge of legislation at national, London and local planning authority level as well as knowledge of key issues relating to strategic planning and regeneration within inner London.

- Demonstrable experience of leading the preparation of Development Plan Documents, Supplementary Planning Documents and supporting evidence base.

- Collaborative leadership skills in complex partnership environments and astute political understanding

- Demonstrable experience of commissioning and contract managing external consultants.