Principal Planner

PRINCIPAL PLANNER – DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT
£41,586 - £49,674 per annum

ABOUT US

Newham will offer you a unique and exciting working environment within a diverse and growing East London Borough which is focussed on optimising development opportunities in ways that benefit existing and new communities delivering good growth.

Over the last few years, the Council has adopted a number of key corporate strategies – these include a declaration of climate emergency, underpinned by the objective to make the London Borough of Newham carbon neutral by 2030 and carbon zero by 2050; a Covid Recovery Plan focusing on how the Council can help support residents and businesses to not just recover from Covid-19 but build a stronger Newham for the future; and Community Wealth Building: an inclusive economic approach that aims to address poverty in the borough as well ensure that investment coming into Newham benefits all residents.

Alongside these corporate priorities, the Planning Service is involved in the delivery of c.2800 new homes targeted per year, 31 Strategic Sites, an Enterprise Zone, emerging Opportunity Area Planning Framework, large scale and distinctive employment-generating schemes, and major infrastructure projects underway. The Mayor of London’s City Hall has also recently relocated to Newham.

Newham offers many career-defining opportunities to work at pace, at scale, and on innovative responses to complex issues.

We are evolving in how we deliver services to our residents and businesses, and we benefit from a hybrid approach to working (ie a mix of office based and home working).

Newham has a flexible working policy and we are open to considering proposals as to the exact pattern of work, such that hours can be arranged around you and your family's needs, as well as our business needs.

ABOUT THE JOB

Principal Planner £41,586 - £49,674 pa (as per 2021 GLPC payscales - P04 - P06)

As development and investment in London moves steadily eastwards, Newham’s important strategic role continues to grow. We are looking for enthusiastic and highly-motivated individuals with proven planning experience to join our progressive Planning Team.

The successful candidates will lead in contributing to the delivery of an efficient and effective Development Management service for the borough, including engagement with developers and other key stakeholders in enabling the delivery of quality developments within a robust planning policy framework.

We have multiple Principal Roles available across both the Majors and Urban Newham teams.

The Majors team focus on the Borough’s larger scale Major applications and most education type schemes whilst the Urban Newham team deal with the majority of the Borough’s planning applications ranging from simple Minors to Majors.

The Principal roles within each team differ slightly given the nature of work each team undertake.

Majors - Your role as a Principal Planner in Majors will require you to lead on all types of Development Management projects including pre-application requests, minor and major applications and appeals. You will also be expected to have delegated signoff responsibility for planners work within the team and to assist and guide them in their work.

Urban Newham - Your role as a Principal Planner in Urban Newham will require you to lead on day to day management of a sub team of planners supporting and guiding them in progressing their own application caseloads and undertaking delegated signoff of applications. You will also contribute to and take the lead on service improvement and/or other project work as well as having a small caseload of more complex planning applications, pre-applications and appeals to progress.

The posts are career graded, with appointment to a particular grade, and progression between grades dependent on experience and performance.

If you want to help shape this part of east London – and leave a lasting legacy for all its communities – come and join the team!

ABOUT YOU

These are very key roles in the Planning Team and you will play an integral part in driving forward high quality development within the borough.

We are looking for individuals with in-depth planning knowledge and extensive Development Management experience within a high performing Local Planning Authority. You should be self motivated, enthusiastic, able to work as part of a team and have the ability to work at pace and under pressure in a positive and solutions led manner whilst supporting others in their own work.

You will be confident in tackling new challenges and flexible in your approach to your work to adapt and meet the needs of the service. You should be able to lead, innovate and organise, and inspire and nurture the talent and interest of other team members.

You will be politically astute with an appreciation of London and national politics and implications for planning and infrastructure delivery. You will be able to communicate complex and technical information accessibly to a range of audiences and build successful professional relationships both within the Council and with external stakeholders.

Please ensure you refer to the person specification section of the Job description for full understanding of the expectations for the role and the below information in respect of what is required as part of your application.

Please note that the qualifications section of the person specification will be used as a minimum short-listing criteria.

APPLYING FOR THIS ROLE

Vacancies are existing therefore we need to fill these posts urgently. Please submit your applications as soon as possible to avoid missing out. <