Deputy Head of Area Regeneration

Deputy Head of Area Regeneration – Lea Bridge & Leyton

Grade PO8 – Full Time, Permanent

Working in Waltham Forest

There has never been a more exciting and challenging time to work for Waltham Forest Council and with its diverse community and partners to make an impact on the future of the borough.

Waltham Forest Council is at the forefront of regeneration in London, with an ambitious programme of housing, workspace, health, education, culture, leisure and transport infrastructure and public realm improvements being delivered across the borough. 

The Covid 19 pandemic and its impact has made us all review the ways we live and work, embracing technology and becoming more flexible, diverse and sustainable.

In response to the pandemic, the Council’s emerging Public Service Corporate Strategy focuses on these immediate priorities:

• Our 15-minute neighbourhood
• Connecting people with jobs
• Safe and healthy lives
• Confidence in our future

The Deputy Head of Area Regeneration role will be instrumental in delivering on these corporate priorities in the borough’s Strategic Growth Areas along the Lee Valley, with a particular focus on Lea Bridge and Leyton.

The Area Regeneration Delivery Team

The work of the Area Regeneration Delivery team focuses on our industrial areas and high streets, building on and enhancing their physical, social and economic assets and the skills and knowledge of local people. The regeneration programme is focused on securing public and private sector investment that enables and delivers transformative projects, infrastructure and new development all set within a set of comprehensive area-based frameworks and masterplans. As such the Team is instrumental in the delivery of 15-minute neighbourhood objective across the Council to achieve transformative plans for places and people, while also addressing the Climate Emergency.

The Area Regeneration Delivery team bring together skills and experience in regeneration, economic development, masterplanning, project design and delivery, town centre programming and activation, strategic transport and sustainable development, working closely with Place and Design, Development Management, Culture, Business Growth, Property Success in the role will depend on collaborative working across the Council and with its partners to add value and deliver projects and initiatives which make our borough a better place to live, work and play.

The role - Deputy Head of Area Regeneration – Lea Bridge & Leyton

We are looking for a leader with vision who can inspire a team and has the skills and experience to bring forward area-based regeneration on an ambitious scale in Lea Bridge and Leyton, working closely with the Directorate's Senior Team and Portfolio Lead Members.

Waltham Forest has diverse and rich history as an industrial zone on the edge of the Lee Valley with exciting opportunities to work with neighbouring Boroughs, local businesses, landowners and stakeholders to improve and create new places that work for everyone.

The successful candidate will need to manage the Council’s complex interrelated roles, interests, external partnerships, stakeholder engagement and varied workstreams in industrial and growth areas along the Lee Valley, leading on key development frameworks and masterplans and embedding the Council’s response to the Climate Emergency.

Key responsibilities

The focus for the role is to work with the Head of Area Regeneration (Industrial and Growth Areas), as well as cross-Council and external partnership teams to enable the delivery of the:

• Implementation of the 15-minute neighbourhood Area Framework for transforming the Lea Bridge Strategic Growth Area, including new play space and open space improvements, climate adaptation initiatives, health facilities, community spaces and social infrastructure, working with landowners and key stakeholders.
• Lead on the development and delivery of the Lea Bridge SIL Vision Framework, facilitating landowner engagement and managing new Developer Performance Agreements to deliver industrial-led masterplans to support comprehensive redevelopment, whilst developing key stakeholder relationships and working across Council departments, including Planning, Business and Culture.
• Working with other members of the Area Regeneration Team, Strategic Place directorate teams and other Council departments to inform emerging proposals on key development sites, including coordinating comms and public engagement.
• Integration of these major development opportunities in the wider Lea Bridge Area Framework, including in terms of construction phasing and logistics, detailed design development and public realm interfaces, stakeholder engagement and management, and securing both shorter-term neighbourhood centre activation and vitality and longer-term economic growth of the industrial areas.
• Oversee a programme of small and medium-scale capital and revenue projects that contribute to activation, economic recovery and growth of Lea Bridge and Leyton Strategic Locations, through meanwhile uses, cultural activation, business space and pop-ups, street markets and public realm opportunities, working closely with the Business and Culture Teams.
• Work with the Head of Area Regeneration (Industrial and Growth Areas), other Deputy Heads of Regeneration, as well as colleagues from Business Growth, Property, Capital Delivery, Culture, Planning and Resident Services, to maximise wider regeneration and economic growth opportunities in Lea Bridge and Leyton.
• Help secure investment in the borough’s Industrial and Growth Areas through developer contributions and external funding applications.
• Leading on projects that bring about the adaptive reuse of Council and third-party properties as well as creating new creative, cultural, commercial, flexible and community space in new development, working closely with the Planning Policy, Development Management and Property Teams.
• Contribute to the development and delivery of borough-wide policy and strategies, with a focus on the Leyton Strategic Location.
• Provide line management for Area Regeneration Project Managers, Officers and Apprentices as appropriate.

Please have a look at Regeneration and Economic Growth Projects and Let’s Talk Lea Bridge for an overview of our current projects.

The attached Role Profile (PO8 grade) gives an outline of what the role will need to deliver. We look forward to receiving your application.

To apply for the role please complete the application via Jobs Go Public setting out how you can meet the Job Specific Accountabilities in the role profile.

Application closing date:  Tuesday 4th October 2022, noon

Anticipated interview dates: during week beginning 10^th October 2022

If you would like more information or an informal conversation, please do not hesitate to contact:

Yoana Tulumbadzhieva

yoana.tulumbadzhieva@walthamforest.gov.uk

07772 141210

or

Zoe Sellers

zoe.sellers@walthamforest.gov.uk

07816 978 445