Senior Planning Officer

1 week ago


Taunton, Somerset, United Kingdom Somerset Council Full time £39,186 - £50,000
Principal / Senior Planning Officer (Development Management - Multiple Roles) £39,186 to £50,000 per annum (the Principal Planning Officer salary includes a remuneration package of £3,536 per annum for up to 3 years)

Full Time Location:

If you are a Planning Officer looking to take the next step to a Senior role, an experienced Senior Officer looking for more variety or looking to develop into a Principal Officer with potential for managing a small team or an experienced Principal looking to find a more varied and exciting opportunity we have some roles for you.

The Senior Planning Officer role is Grade 9 (£39,186 to £43,421 per annum).

The Salary for the Principal Planning Officer role is Grade 8, (£50,000 per annum which includes a remuneration package of £3,536 per annum for up to 3 years).



  • This role offers hybrid working, allowing you to work either from home or from one of our offices
  • 30 days annual leave for the Senior Planning Officer / 33 days annual leave for the Principal Planning Officer
  • Development opportunities available

Currently we have a number of Development Management Planning roles which could bring you variety, the satisfaction of seeing delivery and engaging with the local community, stakeholders, members working to achieve the best outcome for all.

Within Somerset we have a huge breadth of work, and plenty of interesting projects. Local Development Orders

  • Development Consent Orders
  • Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects
  • Major residential and Commercial developments
  • Our Emerging Local Plan

We also have a successful history of gaining Levelling Up and Homes England funding - which means there will be a range of new projects to work on in the coming years as we deliver key community facilities, infrastructure and public realm improvements.

If you relish opportunities to inform, influence and improve you could be a key part of the evolution of a large planning service.

You will need to be in the office 1-2 days per week, for Committee (once a month) and for site visits with the option for homeworking for the rest of the week.

Day to day, as a Senior Planning Officer you would be assessing and determining a range of minor/major planning applications including change of use, residential and commercial development working pro-actively, negotiating to ensure the highest quality outcome.

You would be working within one of the small area teams within Somerset, supported by other Seniors and Principals, and engage with the public and elected members.

As a Principal Officer you would be assessing and determining a range of major applications from Residential, Commercial, Allocated sites and the opportunity to manage Planning Performance Agreements on strategic sites to provide for the 18,000 homes allocated in the Local Plan.

As Principal Officer you would also manage a small team of Planners and Senior Planners (3-5 people) providing support through one to ones and team meetings.

For the Senior role you'll need to be a Qualified Planner, with experience of determining and negotiating on complex caseloads within a Local Authority environment.

For the Principal role, it would be ideal if you had some management experience but if you're a Senior Planner and feel ready to step up, we'll support and help develop you into the Principal role.

An important part of this is ensuring that we are as diverse and inclusive as the people and communities we serve.

You can always contact the hiring manager for a chat if there's anything you want to talk about before you apply.

We offer great training and development opportunities, with supportive management and the opportunity for a wealth of CPD and peer support with a significant number of planners in the wider Authority.

Somerset is also an amazing place to live and work with areas of coast, national landscapes, Exmoor, mixture of economic hubs, regeneration areas, small market towns, historic towns and rural landscapes, large infrastructure projects, new railway station being proposed at Wellington, 3 motorway junctions to the M5 enabling great accessibility.

Somerset can be easily reached by car or public transport with railway connections to Exeter, Bristol and London.
We promote a healthy work-life balance and offer flexible working arrangements wherever possible, including working from home.

  • Generous annual leave allowance, with the opportunity to purchase additional leave.
  • Staff discounts in gyms.
  • Auto enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme and optional pension enhancement through our Additional Voluntary Contribution scheme.
  • A Flexible Benefits Scheme via salary sacrifice to obtain a bicycle for work and access to health screenings.
  • My Staff Shop offering discounts in shops, online shopping, restaurants, cinema tickets, insurance benefits and more...
For an informal chat about the role, you can contact Dawn DeVries via email at dawn.

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