Job Details:
Salary range: £41,580 per annum
Work location: Westminster City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, Westminster, SW1E 6QP
Hours per week: 36
Contract type: x2 Fixed Term contracts for 24 months
Closing date: 23 February 2025
About Us:
THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF THE POWER OF LISTENING
Regeneration, Economy and Planning in Westminster City Council is a world of extraordinary stories, where little things can have a huge impact on people’s lives.
Take Mitin, our Head of Estates Services. Mitin’s team is responsible for cleaning, gardening and bulk refuse removal across several housing estates where many of our residents require a greater degree of assistance. It’s not just about keeping our blocks and estates shipshape, it’s about human contact and letting residents know that we care.
Mitin’s team contribute to our Smart City commitment and make full use of new technology to help track and solve problems such as fly tipping and graffiti. But what many residents value most is his ability to listen. For example, when residents were telling him about carrying out gardening improvements and the positive impact that it has on their wellbeing, he and his team engaged with residents, working closely with them to give them garden areas they could be proud of and a vibrant community.
Mitin is immensely proud of the relationships he’s built with residents, not only because it helps them feel proud of where they live in a greener and cleaner city, but because it makes him proud of where he works.
The Role:
As a Planning Offer in the Short-Term Lets Team you can make your own powerful contribution to Westminster’s success. Our Town Planning and Building Control Services are vital to maintaining and enhancing our reputation, and when you join the Planning Enforcement Team, you will have an opportunity to make a difference to the communities we serve. You will work as part of a small project group tackling unauthorised short-term lets across the borough. This is an ideal opportunity for an aspiring town planner or recent planning graduate to establish a professional career by gaining enforcement experience in the largest specialist planning enforcement team in the UK. The work involves surveys, site visits / interviews and undertaking detailed research and reports / correspondence under the supervision of senior planners. It forms part of an initiative which focuses particularly upon short-term holiday letting of residential premises but includes a variety of other planning and enforcement issues.
Please refer to the Job Description for more information.
About You:
You will need a degree or diploma in Town Planning or a related discipline, be well-organised and have the ability to demonstrate excellent interpersonal skills and a commitment to develop your career as a planner. Tact and diplomacy in dealing with a wide range of people will be required and a strong commitment to customer care. You will need to be physically able as approximately 60% of the working week will be attending site visits in blocks of flats that are being used for short-let purposes.
Knowledge of planning legislation and policy guidance will assist you in dealing with a range of planning and enforcement issues. We’ll expect you to have the ability to develop positive individual and team-working relationships.
Highly motivated and an inspirational team player, you’ll also possess excellent communication and IT skills with a particular focus on the MS 365 suite of software.
Westminster City Council is committed to supporting Care Leavers into the workplace. Care Leavers seeking their first job and who wish to be considered under our scheme, will automatically be invited to interview should they meet the essential criteria for the role.
What We Offer:
Westminster is an amazing place. We are home to more than 200,000 residents from all backgrounds, over 50,000 vibrant and vital businesses and three-quarters-of-a-million people work in Westminster.
Westminster City Council’s strategy is to work towards a Fairer Westminster. A Fairer Westminster is one in which our communities are at the heart of our decision-making and help to determine the city’s future. By working directly with our communities and other partners, we can build a more inclusive city that celebrates our diverse communities, and where residents, workers and visitors from all backgrounds will feel welcome and safe.
At Westminster City Council, we pride ourselves on being an inclusive workplace and employer of choice. We encourage and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that, at all levels, represents the communities we serve. We champion equality, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued, has a sense of belonging and is empowered to be their best, that is the Westminster Way. To find out more about how we do this visit https://www.westminster.gov.uk/health-and-social-care/public-health-strategy-policies-and-reports/equality-duties
As a forward thinking Council we appreciate that people work in different ways, therefore our staff benefit from working a range of flexible working patterns as well as Agile working.
The Council is a Disability Confident Employer. If you have declared a disability in your application, we guarantee an interview if you meet the essential criteria of the job. If you are invited for interview, you will be asked if you need any reasonable adjustments in order to attend, and we will make these wherever possible.