About the Planning Advisory Service
The Local Government Association, working in partnership with Defra, Natural England and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) is helping councils to improve their planning services. The Planning Advisory Service (PAS) delivers help, advice and training to officers and councillors across England that is designed to help them understand and respond to the Government's reform agenda.
PAS has been operating since 2005 and has a well-established reputation for the quality of its work. We have been growing an important environmental planning agenda focused on biodiversity net gain and nature recovery. We are now hoping to add protected site strategies into this mix.
We are a majority home-working team but some of us are based at our office in Westminster. Our work can require regular visits to regions and councils that will sometimes require staying away from home. In line with our funding this role is offered as a fixed term post until 31st March 2025 although secondments and part-time workers will be considered where appropriate.
About the role
The Principal Consultants are the lead practitioners for the PAS programme. You must bring awareness of the local government sector, as well as the environmental planning and reform agenda. You will also be keen to broaden your knowledge and experience as you support the PAS team often working on the newest areas of planning. Experienced, credible and confident you will have excellent analytical, project and communication skills.
This is a new post funded by Natural England. The role is going to lead on a project to explain and communicate to Local Government what Protected Site Strategies are and how to engage with them to help to address both climate change and the biodiversity crisis at a local level. Protected Site Strategies are new and will require thoughtful design and assessment if they are to deliver.
About you
We will be working closely with Natural England and a variety of audiences in local government organisations from planning and rural development departments to County and Parish Councillors. The candidate will benefit from technical expertise in planning, land management, collaborative decision-making, working with stakeholders, mitigation and improvement schemes and protected sites and habitats.
Applicants will need to be confident working with elected members and officers at all levels of local government. They will need to be able to conduct stakeholder research in a systematic and reproducible way. Critically, candidates will need to be creative, innovative, and really want to see the change that they will be helping Councils to deliver.
You must have the right to work in the UK, the LGA are unfortunately unable to offer sponsorship visas. Evidence for the right to work in the UK will be requested at the interview stage.
To apply
If you would like to be considered for the role, please complete the online form and include a supporting statement detailing how you meet the criteria of the role before the closing date.
We use anonymous recruitment, which is the practice of hiding candidates’ identities. This process involves removing any identifying information from candidates’ applications which includes names. We are unable to remove candidate’s names from their CV’s. If you wish to remain anonymous, we ask that you take your name off your CV before submitting.
Closing Date: 5pm, 30th October 2023
Interview Date: 15th November 2023
At the LGA we celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. Our recruitment decisions are based on fair, open competition, with appointment on merit. The LGA are proud to be awarded a “Disability Confident Leader”. If you are require an reasonable adjustment, which is a change to the format or conditions of the recruitment process to accommodate any disability-related needs you may have. Please contact us via HRandPayroll@local.gov.uk