Senior Planning Officer
Interview date: Week Commencing 5th September 2022
About Us:
Kensington and Chelsea is a unique place, home to places of great cultural importance and diverse communities. We have unmatched built heritage sitting alongside iconic retail centres, a vibrant specialist employment market, an international medical quarter and world class cultural attractions. We also have many challenges facing us. We are not only home to the wealthy but also to some of the most deprived wards in London. So, we are committed to delivering good growth in the Borough, with homes for all, and have started our own ambitious house building programme. We are developing new ways of engaging with all our residents and providing high-quality accessible infrastructure for now and future generations. This all contributes to making the borough an unparalleled place to work and offers huge potential for professional development.
We are looking for experienced and confident planners to help us make this happen and join our dynamic and enthusiastic team, located off Kensington High Street in the heart of the borough.
We have a hybrid model of working with 50% of your time based in the office.
The Role:
We are looking for a Senior Planning Officer in Development Management.
You will consider and report on the full range of applications, development proposals and enforcement matters including major developments. You will also deal with Planning Performance Agreements and prepare appeal statements and appear at public inquiries and hearings, as well as attending committees and advising other Council departments on planning matters. There will also be opportunities to act as a mentor to others, helping to grow and develop our team.
You will also have an opportunity to help shape our planning service, implement changes, and be committed to continuous improvements to service delivery.
With a strong and supportive team behind you, you will play a key part in the growth and success of the Development Management service. You will be joining a high performing, forward thinking, and ambitious planning department that is committed to providing a high quality, effective and responsive service.
Please refer to the Job Description for more information.
About You:
With a Planning degree or equivalent, you will also need to be eligible for licentiate membership of the Royal Town Planning Institute (or equivalent), and evidence of a commitment to continuous professional development.
We are looking for a confident and experienced planner with excellent working knowledge of current planning legislation and practice. You must be able to manage a challenging caseload, delivering high quality decisions. You will need to be responsive, motivated, proactive, and able to lead on cases, sharing your knowledge through motivating and mentoring your colleagues. You should have the ability to construct concise reports that present clear and persuasive arguments and be able to give both formal and informal presentations. You will be able to deal with a wide range of people including very engaged and informed residents, Councillors, and fellow professionals. We are looking for a customer focused approach and willingness to work proactively and collaboratively, with a commitment to high quality outcomes.
Putting communities first and working together, with respect and integrity are our values and we want people who share these to come and work with us. Your experience and expertise is vital; however, your values and behaviours are also important, and we are looking for candidates who are enthusiastic, hardworking, and have a positive can-do attitude.
In return, you can look forward to a package that includes a competitive salary, a high-quality pension scheme and generous annual leave plus bank holidays. We are committed to growing and developing our team and will invest time in your professional development.
Please apply online explaining how you meet the requirements set out in the person specification and job description. CV’s alone will not be considered for this role.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of suitable applicants.
Application process
Please do not upload any documents, including CVs/Covering Letters or supporting statements, as these documents will not be reviewed and could result in your application not being shortlisted.
You should describe how you meet the person specification requirements for the position you are applying for in Section G of the application form.
Additional information
We are committed to promoting equality and respecting diversity and welcome applications from all sections of the community.
We are a Disability Confident Employer – committed to ensuring that our recruitment and selection process is inclusive and accessible.
We engage our staff with a variety of learning types including face-to-face and virtual learning because we want to ensure our staff understand our values and behaviours, grow their skills and develop their careers.
This post is covered by the Fluency Duty, as outlined in the Code of Practice on the English language requirements for public sector workers.
We do not accept speculative CVs from any source.
Please note, we will primarily contact candidates by e-mail throughout the recruitment process, please monitor your email junk / spam folder as our system generated emails may be allocated to these folders by your email settings.
If you experience difficulties with the recruitment application process, please contact the recruitment team by email: recruitment@rbkc.gov.uk