Senior Planning Officers

**How you'll make a difference**:
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South Gloucestershire is an area with extensive Green Belt, Cotswold National Landscape designation, bustling urban areas and three unique market towns. As part of preparing our new Local Plan we have over 530 Call for Sites to assess and many new options and changes to consider. Our new plans strategy will need to optimise opportunities within our existing urban areas, investigate locations and infrastructure for strategic growth and appropriate levels of growth and change in a large range of rural villages.

As a senior planning policy officer, you will take a leading role in preparing options, strategy, evidence for an ambitious and diverse new Local Plan. You will make a difference by, taking ownership of formulating new Local Plan policy, making a significant contribution to strategic options for growth and/or lead preparation of a new IDP (Infrastructure Delivery Plan) and refresh of our CiL charging schedule.

**What will you be doing?**

The Strategic Planning Policy and Specialist Advice Team is responsible for preparing the new Local Plan, plan monitoring including of five-year housing supply and employment land, neighbourhood planning and providing planning policy advice to support the council’s strategic functions.

We are looking for planners with the experience, knowledge, and the ability to work on one or more of the following work areas:
**Employment Policy, safeguarding and allocations**
Take ownership of formulating new Local Plan policy, options and consultation approaches relating to employment land. Lead the refresh of our employment land study, commissioning studies and reports, analysing employment land data, working across specialists’ colleagues in the authority and West of England area.

**Housing policy, evidence and options for allocation**
Make a significant contribution to strategic options for growth of future homes by leading commissioning and analysis of a refreshed Local Housing Needs Assessments (LHNA), preparation of strategic and non-strategic housing policies, across the full range of housing types, as required by the NPPF.**Infrastructure Delivery Plans and Community Infrastructure Levy (CiL) Refresh**
Lead preparation of a new IDP to support our new Local Plan. Unpack future changes to the CiL and S106 legislation and updates to the NPPF, to inform the refresh of our CiL charging schedule. Understanding of viability as it impacts Local Plan making.
- Daily:
- You will be required to formulate and inform appropriate parts of a new spatial strategy, including options, potential site allocations and safeguarding proposals, preferred options and submission stages of our new Local Plan.
- You will develop new strategic and non-strategic policies, for our new Local plan, refreshing and updating policies in our adopted Core Strategy and Policies Sites and Places documents where necessary
- It is expected that you will lead commissioning and project management of external consultants and partners producing technical evidence and supporting studies
- It will be your responsibility to present at internal senior officer and political briefings, formal Council meetings and at external meetings relating to the work area when required
- You will need to act as an expert witness at Local Plan Examination in Public hearing sessions

**What we need from you**:
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- We require you to demonstrate considerable relevant experience in planning practice, in one or more of the work areas set out in the ‘what you will be doing’ section above.
- You will be eligible for membership of Royal Town Planning Institute or be able to work towards membership
- You must have a clear understanding of planning policy and legislation as it relates to Local Plan making

**How a career at South Gloucestershire Council is different**:
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**How a career at South Gloucestershire Council is different**
- We value our staff as individuals, investing in their careers and we are recognised for the quality, breadth and depth of our **training and development** offer, which helps make the greatest long-term difference in work.
- We trust our team to work in the way which allows them to make the biggest difference and we continue to **invest in technology **to help staff do their jobs to the best of their ability and **celebrate innovation.**:

- As part of our benefits package you will receive **generous annual leave** (pro rata), employee **wellbeing support** and you will have access to a range of **staff discounts**, including eye tests, travel, shopping and leisure activities

Our teams at South Gloucestershire Council are making a real difference to the lives of people who live, work and learn here.
- We're building and shaping communities which people are proud of
- We're planning for the future; building and improving the roads, railways, schools, green spaces, and houses.
- We’re providing essential services across our communities to ensure they are safe an