Planning Officer - Career Grade - Internal Applicants Only
***Internal Applicants Only***
Organisation: London Borough of Waltham Forest
Salary: SO1 - PO3 £37,068 - £47,532
Contract Type: Full time - Permanent
Working hours per week: 36
Application Deadline: 29/04/2025
Proposed Interview Date(s): Week Commencing 05/05/2025
Reference:1706
We are looking for two career grade planners who have a passion for planning and want to develop skills and abilities in the busy environment of Waltham Forest.
We welcome applications from planners with experience in dealing with a range of planning applications, from minor to medium sized developments within the development management service, who are seeking to continue to develop a career in Development Management.
About Us:
Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work.
We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by culture and the innate creativity of our residents, we have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities. Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded; a Council focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents.
London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the Mayor of London's Good Work Standard employers. This accreditation is a proof of our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace. This includes fair pay and conditions, workplace well-being, skills and progression and diversity and recruitment.
There has never been a more exciting time to work for Waltham Forest Council where we are delivering impactful change with and for our diverse communities across the borough.
Waltham Forest Council is at the forefront of development regeneration in London, with an ambitious programme of investment in the borough's places, people, and infrastructure. Our programme is based around economic growth and investment in our 15-minute neighbourhoods, working with and securing benefit for local communities while responding to the current economic challenges, housing needs and the impact of the Climate Emergency.
The Council's preference is for online application. However, if you have a disability and are unable to complete an online application, please email recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk so we can arrange an alternative application method.
About the role:
As part of your role, you will assist Principal Planners on major projects within the Borough and support the Team Managers to deliver the planned growth identified in the Local Plan ensuring the delivery of developments that benefits the local communities, seek to protects the characteristics of the borough, and to make it an attractive place to live and work. Your role will include assisting and contributing towards the commercialisation of the service, including facilitating a pro-active pre-application service.
You will need to be confident in tackling new challenges and flexible in your work approach and be able to adapt and meet the needs of the service. You will have a current understanding and will continue to build your knowledge on planning legislation and national and regional policy, to progress your career.
>> Click here to download the Role Profile <<
Key Responsibilities:
You will be responsible for managing a varied caseload of planning applications, pre-applications requests, appeals and enforcement related matters.
Qualifications and Requirements:
Masters Degree in Urban and Town Planning, or Undergraduate Degree in Urban and Town Planning or Architecture with the intention to working toward Urban and Town Planning Masters Degree
Eligibility for membership of the Royal Town Planning Institute
Terms and conditions:
Satisfactory employment references and CIFAS identity checks;
Satisfactory declaration of interest;
Continued professional body registration;
This post is politically restricted therefore the post holder is disqualified from undertaking certain political activities under the Local Government Officers (Political Restrictions) Regulations 1990.
As a public authority, we must ensure that members of staff in public-facing roles are able to speak fluent English. This means that they must have a command of spoken English, with confidence and accuracy, sufficient for the effective performance of their role. This requirement does not refer to any particular English language qualifications, regional or international accents, dialects, speech impediments or the tone of conversations. It does not require staff to speak only in English.
How to Apply:
Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications online by pressing the 'Apply' button below. This includes a supporting statement that outlines to us how your skills and experience make you a good candidate for this vacancy.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.
Equal Opportunity Employer:
Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both, service delivery and employment of its staff. The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area, it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population. We use our statutory duties on race, gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age, faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace. The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives: - Promoting equality of opportunity - Opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and disadvantage - Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels. - Providing fair, appropriate, accessible and excellent Services to all. Respecting Diversity is a core Council value.
To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities, the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process, which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting. The council also operates a scheme whereby, for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2, internal candidates are considered first. This includes those candidates who self-identify as having a disability for the purposes of the Disability Confident scheme. For more information, please refer to our recruitment and selection policy.
We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below or feel free to discuss this during your interview.
For more information on the benefits of working for the Council, please visit https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/jobs-and-training/find-jobs-and-other-opportunities/working-us.
Contact Information:
If you have any questions about this vacancy or the application process, please contact Mahnaz Chowdhery, North Team Manager at Mahnaz.Chowdhery@walthamforest.gov.uk
If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post, please contact our Recruitment Team via email at recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk.
Click here for further information on the Human Resources recruitment privacy notice.