Planning Advisor - 26629

We are the Environment Agency. We work with government, local councils, businesses, and communities to make our environment cleaner, safer, and healthier for people and wildlife. We deal with the effects and causes of climate change, perhaps the most serious long-term threat to the environment that we face.

Hertfordshire and North London faces many environmental challenges. The amount of growth planned in the area is one such challenge. The successful candidate will influence development to protect and enhance the environment. Our aim is to secure the best environmental outcomes through this growth. Our work is varied and diverse. We seek to protect chalk stream rivers and groundwater, remediate contamination and steer development from flood risk areas.

As a member of our Sustainable Places team your work will involve:

•Providing a positive planning service to local planning authorities, developers and consultants
•Commenting on planning applications
•Negotiating environmental outcomes
•Providing admin support to the team
•Screening and logging on planning applications to our internal system
•Contributing to internal business improvement working groups

There is no requirement for your background to be in the planning sector.

Responding to incidents is a central part of what we do. You will be required to have an incident role and make yourself available to respond to incidents or provide business continuity support during an incident. This may attract an additional payment and full training and alternative working arrangements will be available to support you with your incident role.

For more info on working with us see https://environmentagencycareers.co.uk/

The Sustainable Places team is the first point of contact for local authorities on planning matters. We are a statutory consultee within the planning process. We provide effective responses to planning applications and enquires.

We are a positive, friendly and hardworking team who take pride in delivering outcomes. We are dual located across our offices in London and Welwyn Garden City and so travel to our Hertfordshire office may be required on occasion.

We're looking for a talented and dynamic team member. You will demonstrate professionalism, integrity and compassion. You will be adaptable and resilient under pressure and enjoy working as part of a supportive team. The skills we are interested in are:

• Qualified to at least degree standard (or equivalent) in a relevant discipline
• Good time management skills
• Problem-solving skills
• An ability to prioritise workload
• Influencing and negotiation skills
• Excellent customer services skills
• An ability to communicate to a wide range of audiences

Most importantly, a passion to develop a career which will create a better place for people and wildlife.

We encourage you to apply and share your skills in helping us deliver our goals. You may be experienced in a different sector or looking for a new challenge. We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer. We strive to make our workforce as diverse as the communities we serve. We welcome applicants from diverse backgrounds and underrepresented groups. We are a Stonewall Top 100 Employer and advocate diversity at every opportunity.

This role will attract London weighting.

For further information about the role please contact Natasha Brennan, Sustainable Places Team Leader. Natasha.Brennan@environment-agency.gov.uk.

PLEASE NOTE: Your answer will be used for interview selection - please draw out your skills and experience in your response.

We work with a wide range of customers, and we need to deliver excellent customer service to help influence planning decisions to improve the environment. Describe an occasion when you have used your knowledge and understanding of a particular customer to improve the service you provided for them

PLEASE NOTE: Your answer will be used for interview selection - please draw out your skills and experience in your response.

You will be expected to set and deliver high standards of work through prioritisation and organisation of tasks to meet targets and deadlines. Tell us about a time when you had to deliver a challenging piece of work: what was it and how did you approach it?

PLEASE NOTE: Your answer will be used for interview selection - please draw out your skills and experience in your response.

Delivering our team goals requires excellent skills in influencing and persuading others.  Please provide an example of how you have influenced and persuaded an individual / company to deliver to agreed deadlines, in the face of considerable challenge