Senior Planning Officer / Planning Specialist (Town and Country Planning) - 19169

We are seeking enthusiastic and self-motivated people who want to make a difference to the area in which they live and work.

As a Planning Specialist you will use your knowledge of the planning system to promote sustainable development and infrastructure growth across East Anglian. It is an exciting and challenging role focusing on engaging and influencing planning decision-makers and developers. The role also offers opportunities to deepen your professional planning knowledge and develop your project management, innovation, and leadership skills.

Your work will involve:
• seeking opportunities to expand our strategic planning and early engagement service so that we can influence early stages of development;

• leading on the team’s high profile work-streams including major development projects and strategic planning matters to secure positive environmental outcomes;

• providing strong technical leadership which inspires and motivates the team and others you work with;

• work collaboratively and develop strong relationships with customers and stakeholders at all levels, within and outside the organisation;

• leading or participating in internal projects and working groups, locally and nationally, to achieve integrated solutions that progress continuous improvement.

The posts are full-time although requests for other work patterns will be considered.

Sustainable Places are a positive, hardworking team that takes pride in delivering results. We lead on the Environment Agency’s input into development, growth, and planning policy matters across East Anglia. We seek to secure the best possible environmental outcomes by working closely with internal colleagues, councils, developers, and strategic partners. East Anglia area has a diverse range of environmental issue and development pressures creating exciting opportunities for an interesting and diverse workload.

You will be able to demonstrate some or all of the following

• A flexible, positive, and enthusiastic approach to work.

• Experience of advising on development issues and / or on complex environmental problems;

• An understanding of development economics is desirable, so you have an awareness of the political and commercial landscape you’ll be working within;

• Excellent interpersonal skills to provide strong technical leadership and maintain relationships with customers and stakeholders;

• a proven ability to achieve results and proactively identify and solve problems;

• strong influencing and negotiation skills when working with partner organisations and/or individuals;

• Ability to work in a high workload environment, managing multiple projects simultaneously.

A full UK driving licence is essential.

The candidate pack and role profile available, should be read along with the advert in order to understand the key accountabilities and skills needed to succeed in this role.

The roles will be based at either our Ipswich or Brampton office. We are still determining our working arrangements as we come out of covid restrictions, but we will be offering some home working.

We value a diverse workforce and welcome applications from all sections of the community who wish to join an organisation which values everyone.

Everyone starting in a new role with the Environment Agency will be welcomed and given the training and support needed.

Interviews will be conducted virtually via MS Teams.

For further details about these roles please contact either:

• Jo Firth (Sustainable Places Team Leader based in Ipswich) on 0207 714 0801 jo.firth@environment-agency.gov.uk

• Adam Ireland (Sustainable Places Team Leader based in Brampton) on 0203 025 1777
adam.ireland@environment-agency.gov.uk

Give an example of a time that you had to present a case in a convincing and attractive way to win over your audience.

Please note we do not assess CVs. It is your answer provided below that will be used for interview selection so ensure you draw out your skills and experience in your response. A copy of our EA capability dictionary can be viewed by searching online using any web browser.

Tell us about a challenging goal that you have set for yourself at work, and the steps that you took to achieve it.

Please note we do not assess CVs. It is your answer provided below that will be used for interview selection so ensure you draw out your skills and experience in your response. A copy of our EA capability dictionary can be viewed by searching online using any web browser.

Explain how you have previously identified a knowledge or skills gap in a team and what steps you took to address this.

Please note we do not assess CVs. It is your answer provided below that will be used for interview selection so ensure you draw out your skills and experience in your response. A copy of our EA capability dictionary can be viewed by searching online using any web browser.

Please summarise your experience of working with the UK town and country planning system and/or the environmental sector. Please note, this does not have to be related to the Environment Agency.

Please note we do not assess CVs. It is your answer provided below that will be used for interview selection so ensure you draw out your skills and experience in your response. A copy of our EA capability dictionary can be viewed by searching online using any web browser.

Driving Licence