About The Role
Job Title: Principal Planning Officer
Hours: 37
Salary: £44,711 - £48,710
Contract: Permanent
Closing date: 21.02.2025
Interview date: TBC
The role
Are you interested in shaping and providing support to help Herefordshire achieve its growth aspirations? We are an ambitious unitary council with our planning and building control service taking centre stage in promoting the council’s spatial priorities for growth. We are making significant investment in our systems and processes and have recently won a national award.
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a principal planning officer to work as part of the Strategic and Neighbourhood Planning Team. Herefordshire Council is currently progressing a new Local Plan; therefore a fantastic opportunity for you to be directly involved in this production. This involves setting the strategy for achieving significant levels of housing and employment growth through sustainable development and drafting policies that will serve the area for the next twenty years on crucial matters such as climate change, affordable housing and employment provision.
About you
In this role you and another principal planner will work closely with the Strategic and Neighbourhood Planning Manager which will help you to develop your management and mentoring skills. Working within the policy team, you will play an important role in the preparation of the Local Plan and other policy documents, including research, policy formulation, participation in consultation events, neighbourhood planning support and representing the Council at independent examinations and public inquiries. We are looking for someone with strong experience in planning policy to help the team deliver on important work, including the production of a new Local Plan. We are looking for a skilled, confident and self-motivated Principal Planning Officer with excellent communication skills to join our friendly and supportive team to help deliver our ambitious plans.
If you would like to become part of a friendly and thriving environment that supports these ambitions then we would like to hear from you.
Benefits of working for Herefordshire Council:
A competitive salary, generous holiday entitlement, and access to our contributory pension and staff benefits scheme, which includes:
· Pension Scheme Enrolment in the Local Government (LGPS)
· Generous Annual Leave: 31 days’ annual leave (pro rata) plus bank holidays. You can also purchase an additional 10 days per annum
· Flexible working: flexi-time, job-share, part-time hours and, in some instances, home working
· Employee Assistance Programme: 24/7 access to support and counselling
· Payment of professional membership fees
· Pick your perks – our benefits include access to a range of retail, leisure, holiday and health benefits. This includes savings, cash back and discounts.
We welcome applicants whatever their personal characteristics or social identity. All requests for flexible working arrangements and reasonable adjustments will be considered.
The following candidates will be interviewed if they meet the essential criteria for the post they are applying for:
· Those who indicate that they have a disability. This is part of our commitment to the “Disability Confident” scheme;
· Those who indicate in their supported statement that they serve in the Armed Forces, whether Regular or Reserve, those who have served in the past, or their families. This is part of our pledge to support the Armed Forces Covenant;
· Those who indicate in their supporting statement that they are a Herefordshire care leaver. This is part of our commitment to supporting young people leaving our care.
Please refer to the Job Description and Person Specification for more details of this role.
To apply, please submit your CV and complete the supporting statement within the application form, referring to the job description & person specification, detailing how you meet the specific requirements of the role.
Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme
Disability Confident
About Disability Confident
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident .