Please ask for: / Direct dial:
Angie Beale / 01823 355209
Please quote this reference: / Fax:
10398/AMB / 01823 355091
Email: / Date:
/ June/July 2017

Dear Applicant,

Planning Officer

Thank you for your enquiry regarding the above post. Please find enclosed:

  • Job details and Person specification
  • 4 C’s Information Sheet
  • Terms and conditions
  • Disclosure & Barring Service Information Sheet
  • Application form & Equalities monitoring form

To apply for the post, please complete the application and equal opportunities monitoring forms and return them by 12 July 2017at 5pm. The form can be submitted from the link in the vacancy on the Somerset County Council Website, or can be emailed to or posted to: The Recruitment Team, Floor A2W, County Hall, Taunton, TA1 4DY.

Unfortunately, due to the considerable number of enquiries for vacancies, we are unable to acknowledge receipt of your written application unless you specifically request this by enclosing a stamped addressed envelope. If you have not heard from us within 3-4 weeks of the closing date, you should assume that your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion.

If you would like further information about this post, please telephone Philip Higginbottom, Service Manager, Planning Control, Enforcement & Compliance on 01823 356939 or Barry James, Strategic Manager on 07919 540986.

Yours faithfully,

Angie Beale

Senior Recruitment Assistant

Recruitment Team

JOB DETAILS

Job title: Planning Officer

Reference number:10398/AMB

KEY TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Main Responsibilities & Duties
  1. Provision of general planning advice to officers of the County Council regarding the County Council’s own developments, for example the need for planning permission, timescales, procedures.
  1. Provision of general planning advice to external applicants and other interested parties, for example, on minerals, waste and County Council’s own developments, notification procedures and minerals land searches.
  1. Provision of pre-application planning advice to officers of the County Council on specific County Council development proposals, and to external applicants on minerals and waste proposals. For example, on the likelihood of getting planning permission and how to minimise adverse effects of the development.
  1. Processing of mostly the County Council’s own development (Regulation 3) planning applications, and less complex/contentious minerals and waste developments, in accordance with statutory procedures including carrying out site visits to assess proposed schemes; advertising the application; consulting neighbours and other consultees; liaison and negotiation with applicants and statutory consultees such as District Councils, Parish Councils, the Environment Agency, the County Council’s specialist advisors and applicants and/or agents; liaison and provision of information to members of the public and other interested parties on planning applications.
  1. Preparation of reports on less complex/contentious planning applications for the Service Manager – Planning Control, Enforcement & Compliance, some of which will be placed before the Regulation Committee.
  1. Presentation of reports for planning applications at Regulation Committee briefings and at Regulation Committee meetings when necessary.
  1. Provide assistance for the organisation of Member site visits for planning applications, attendance at site visits, and providing explanations to Members of the proposed development.
  1. Contributes to Service, and relevant Group and Operations/Commissioning projects (eg Minerals Local Plan, establishment of minerals database, revision of standard conditions, planning control process re-engineering) as requested by the Service Manager – Planning Control, Enforcement & Compliance.
  1. Validation of received applications, initiate publicity and consultation as required.
  1. Attendance at quarry/waste site liaison meetings providing general planning advice on such things as procedures and relevant planning considerations to interested parties such as Parish Councils, members of the Public, action groups.
  1. Undertake chargeable monitoring visits, write up reports and arrange invoicing of applicants/site operators in support of the Enforcement & Compliance team as instructed by the Senior Enforcement Officer and Service Manager – Planning Control, Enforcement & Compliance.
  1. Liaise with the County Council’s Planning Enforcement and Monitoring Officers, and Service Manager – Planning Control, Enforcement & Compliance to remedy breaches in planning control relating to the County Council’s own development, minerals and waste developments.
  1. Understand, uphold and promote the aims of the council’s equality, diversity and inclusion policies; health, safety and wellbeing of self and others; and Organisational values in everything you do. Equality and Diversity practice covers both interaction with staff, service users and communities and includes challenging discrimination and promoting equality of opportunity for all

FURTHER INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO THIS POST
Somerset County Council is subject to Part 7 of the Immigration Act (2016) and therefore the ability to speak fluent English will be an essential requirement for customer-facing roles.

PERSON SPECIFICATION GRADE 12

All applicants should demonstrate a commitment to our four key values –

Customer Focus, Can Do Attitude, Collaboration and Care and Respect

You can find more information by following the link below: :

1. Key Competencies
Organisation & Planning /
  • Develops and implements procedures to ensure routine tasks are carried out consistently and efficiently
  • Manages interruptions efficiently and in a calm manner, providing advice or support as appropriate
  • Demonstrates an ability to use initiative and to organise and prioritise own workload
  • Plans ahead to meet priorities with competing deadlines, allowing time for projects & meetings
  • Monitors own performance adjusting pace and implementing corrective actions as necessary

Interpersonal Skills /
  • Confident and approachable – interacts and converses easily with people at all levels and initiates contact as appropriate
  • Adopts a flexible and adaptable approach to support managers and others
  • Operates processes and procedures consistently in a way that supports the needs of others
  • Actively seeks out feedback in order to improve standards of service
  • Demonstrates sensitivity and respect for individual rights and cultural needs. Actively promotes principles of equality and diversity

Analysis & Problem Solving /
  • Demonstrate ability to research, gather and present information in accordance to the requirements of the original brief
  • Uses initiative to carry out comparisons of best practice with other organisations

Communication Skills /
  • Communicates clearly and accurately both orally and in writing to enhance understanding and facilitate decision making
  • Selects appropriate methods of interaction, making effective use of electronic media respecting confidentiality at all times
  • Demonstrates an understanding and sensitivity to others
  • Prepares information which meet the needs of a range of audiences

Knowledge Management /
  • Develops job knowledge and expertise through commitment to continual professional development, e.g. attendance on external and internal training ,on the job training, occasionally undertaking activities outside of current role descriptions etc

2. Work Experience
Essential / Desirable
  • Dealt with planning applications/development management caseload and planning policy work
  • Dealt with County planning issues (minerals, waste and Regulation 3 (schools, social services etc)), in development management and/or planning policy.
  • Presented planning proposals to a Planning committee and/or Member site visits, and public audiences.
  • Use of Planning database and GIS systems/tools, such as Atrium and MapInfo.
  • Experience of working with community groups.
  • Experience of planning appeals.
  • Experience of examinations in public or public inquiries.
  • Worked as part of a project team within the public or private sector.

3. Qualifications
Essential / Desirable
  • A degree or equivalent experience in a planning, mineral, waste, or other environmental discipline.
/
  • A postgraduate qualification in a subject area closely related to the work.
  • Membership of the RTPI.

4. Knowledge/Skills
Essential / Desirable
  • A strong awareness of one or more of the following: spatial planning; social, economic, or environmental policy issues.
  • Highly IT literate with experience of standard data analysis software.
  • Familiar with common IT software, in particular MS Word, PowerPoint and Excel.
  • Ability to read and interpret plans and technical drawings.
  • For customer facing roles, the ability to speak fluent English as stated in Part 7 of the Immigration Act (2016).
/
  • An understanding of the national planning agenda and County Planning functions.
  • A knowledge of planning legislation, processes and practices.
  • A knowledge of development plans and frameworks.
  • Knowledge of Local Government administration and its processes.
  • Knowledge of the range, value and limitations of the key datasets required to support the spatial planning function.
  • Knowledge of current customer and service issues that affect local government.
  • Knowledge of the planning system for minerals, waste and Regulation 3 developments.
  • A sound knowledge of research techniques, preferably in a planning context.
  • Knowledge of the technical application of GIS (preferably RMX4).
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5. Personal Attributes
Essential / Desirable
  • Able to take direction well but to work with minimal supervision when required.
  • Able to work as part of a team.
  • Enthusiastic and self-motivated.
  • Outgoing and approachable.
  • Committed to a continuous process of self-development and training.
  • Willingness to contribute to the service planning process through ideas, approaches or insights.
  • Honesty and integrity.
  • Able to attend meetings away from County Hall, sometimes in remote locations with occasional attendance at meetings/events outside normal working hours.

Our Values – 4 Cs

At work, thewaywe do things matters as much aswhatwe do. At Somerset County Council we have four key values – the 4Cs – that all employees are expected to work to. They will form part of every member of staff’s personal review.

Customer focus

This is about putting the customer at the heart of everything we do.

Collaboration

This is about working with others to deliver our services.

Can do attitude

This is about getting the job done and doing it well.

Care and respect

This is about treating others as they would wish to be treated – with care, respect, dignity and understanding.

What does this look like in practice?

The 4Cs describe our values. In practice, this means that we think from a customer or a community perspective to make sure we get things right first time and continually improve the services we provide. We must have a clear view of what our customers and service users say they need, rather than build services based on what we think they need.

We operate a ‘no wrong door’ policy – whichever authority or department deals with the customer’s query, we help them get there. As we build links with other authorities and organisations we talk to each other and our managers about how we think we could change, even the smallest things, for the better.

We work together, establishing positive, respectful and empowering ways of working as strong teams. We act with integrity, communicating clearly, admitting to our mistakes and striving to learn from them. When we think we need to speak out or challenge, we are prepared to do so in a constructive and positive way, but we remain objective.

Important Information about the Job and Your Application

JOB TITLE

/ Planning Officer

GRADE

/ 12

SALARY

/ Between £20,661 and £23,398per annum
Appointments are normally made at the bottom of the salary scale.

LOCATION

/ The location for this post is County Hall, Taunton, TA1 4DY.
GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS / In accordance with the Scheme of Conditions of Service agreed by the National Joint Council for Local Government Services (commonly know as the Green Book).

HOURS OF WORK

/ Normally the working week is 37 hours. The hours of work will be in agreement with the line manager.

CONTRACT

/ The contract offered is permanent.

PROBATIONARY PERIOD

/ The appointment will be subject to a probationary period of 6 months. Internal applicants who have already completed their probationary period would not normally be expected to complete this again.

LEAVE

/ The annual leave for this post (based on full time hours) is
25 days.
On top of this, 2 additional days (called statutory days) can be taken each year, as well as the usual 8 bank holiday days.
The annual leave year starts on 1 April or 1 of the month in which contract commences.
.

NOTICE PERIOD

/ Following successful completion of the probationary period, this post will be subject to a notice period of one calendar month on either side.
DISABILITY DECLARATIONS / Applications for all vacancies are particularly welcome from people with disabilities. Somerset County Council has a policy of shortlisting for interview all disabled applicants who meet the essential requirements of the post (as detailed in the Person Specification enclosed).

DISCLOSURE & BARRING SERVICE

/ Not applicable for this post.
POLITICAL RESTRICTIONS / Not applicable for this post.
SMOKING POLICY / Somerset County Council recognises that the health, safety and welfare of employees, sub-contractors and anyone else directly affected by the Council's operations are of prime importance. Therefore, smoking is strictly prohibited everywhere on Somerset County Council premises except where it is both practicable and appropriate to designate an outside smoking area. This is at the discretion of local management. Smoking breaks during paid working time will not be permitted.
Somerset County Council has signed the Charter for Employers who are Positive about Mental Health.
The Charter for Employers who are Positive about Mental Health is a voluntary agreement seeking to support employers in working within the spirit of its positive approach. The Charter is one element of the MINDFUL EMPLOYER® initiative which is aimed at increasing awareness of mental health in the workplace and supporting businesses in recruiting and retaining staff.
MINDFUL EMPLOYER is a UK-wide initiative.