Fixed term/secondment opportunity until 31 March 2020
OPE is an established national programme delivered in partnership by the Office of Government Property (OGP) within the Cabinet Office and the Local Government Association (LGA). It provides practical and technical support and funding to councils to deliver ambitious property-focused programmes in collaboration with central government and other public sector partners.
Since our first pilot phase in 2013 we’ve expanded to cover over 90% of all English councils working in 76 partnerships whether in City Deal, Combined Authority, or some other arrangement for cross Whitehall/local government land & property programmes:
- We’ve distributed over £50m in revenue grants to councils to deliver over 450 projects that will see the creation of 25,000 homes and 44,000 jobs by 2020, as well as £615 million in capital receipts and £158 million in running cost savings;
- In 2017 we administered MHCLG’s Land Release Fund, a capital allocation that will unlock a further 7000 homes on tricky, often unviable, public sector sites;
- And this year we cemented that relationship with MHCLG who are funding most of the latest OPE Phase, targeted specifically at producing new homes.
Last year we celebrated our 5th anniversary and it’s an exciting time to join OPE. We commissioned an independent review earlier this year that confirmed we’ve embedded the basics of good asset management amongst public sector land owners – mapping the assets; establishing a partnership; applying dedicated project management; and leadership at all levels – and now it’s time to protect the investment of the last five years, really enhance delivery, and take the programme to the next set of challenges.
We want to support partnerships more; we want to lever in greater levels of patient investment to some of the larger, 30+ hectare, schemes; and we want to become a sector influencer through our academic partnership with Liverpool and Manchester Universities.
To this end we are seeking top calibre candidates for 2 Regional Programme Managers to cover the North East and the South West of England. You will be working with a group of councils, Combined Authorities, City Deal authorities or other groupings to help deliver the OPE programme objectives. The job role will range from helping authorities frame their plans and ambitions, through to ensuring they have the basics in place – mapped assets, a properly functioning partnership forum, and a clear asset strategy – through to performance management of those plans. You will work closely with colleagues in the OGP.
This role is not primarily an ‘office based’ job; visiting authorities, meeting Government Departments etc. will be the common method of working. The North East region (over 40 councils in 11 partnerships) is a large region geographically, and the post holder will need to be comfortable travelling between Northamptonshire to Northumberland. The South West region is of similar scale covering Berkshire to the Isle of Scilly.
You will need to be a self-starter, with an ability to work on your own and represent the LGA with senior officers (Chief Executives and Directors) and senior politicians. Political awareness, experience of relationship and partnership building, an ability to persuade others, and experience of land and property matters will all be critical attributes for these posts.
We are also interested in hearing from those interested in a secondment.
The post is initially an arrangement ending end of March 2020, however there is potential for the contract to be extended subject to the programme securing additional funding.
You’ll be coming into an established Programme, and partnership: we’ve worked closely with our Cabinet Office colleagues for five years now. Although this post reports to the LGA, our strategy is jointly agreed; our Regional Managers work together in pairs; and our team structures are intertwined. You’ll find an LGA and Cabinet Office team who are open minded about change; flexible in the way we operate our rules; and relentlessly focussed on delivering better services, and better outcomes for people locally.
You can find out more about the programme here: https://local.gov.uk/topics/housing-planning-and-homelessness/one-public-estate
For further information and to apply online please visit https://www.jobtrain.co.uk/LGA/vacancies.aspx
Before applying for an internal vacancy, LGA employees must have the permission of their current line manager.
Closing date: 5pm, 28 January 2019
Interview date: 07 February 2019
As a Disability Confident Leader the LGA values diversity and encourages applications from all sections of the community