The Friday Five 01.09.23
It's the Friday Five, our weekly round-up of five of the best town planning jobs on Planner Jobs this week. Plus some place-based facts to amuse, entertain and educate. This week, opportunities in Dereham, Leyland, Nottingham, Atherstone and Tiverton. Plus the cyclist who rode at more than 200mph, the rise and fall of British Leyland and the annual game of football that is unlike anything you might see in the Premier League.
1. PLANNING POLICY MANAGER, CAPITA/BRECKLAND COUNCIL
Location: Dereham, Norfolk
The job: "We are looking to recruit an experienced, motivated individual to manage our successful planning policy team based in Dereham, Norfolk. This will involve taking a lead role on the planning policy service provided to Breckland Council. As part of this, there is the responsibility for agreeing and delivering an annual programme of planning policy work for the council and overseeing the successful delivery of a wide range of projects.
"What you'll be doing:
- Manage a small team of planning professionals delivering the annual work programme of planning policy work for Breckland Council
- Provide support and advice to the development management team, on strategically important planning applications, enforcement and appeals
- Ensure support is provided for the production of neighbourhood plans throughout the production process, including new designations for neighbourhood areas
- Provide timely, comprehensive and accurate reports and recommendations on planning policy issues."
Fun fact: One of Dereham's most unusual residents was bike engineer and speed cyclist Bruce Bursford, who built a space-age bike on which he reached a speed of 334km/h 209mph) in 1995. This remains a record – albeit one with a big asterisk beside it.
The reason for the asterisk is that Bursford's record was set on an indoor rolling road at Brooklands Museum in Surrey (pictured), which was typically used to test cars being designed for very high speeds. Other speed cycling records have taken place outdoors, usually in the slipstream of specially adapted super-fast cars.
The £1 million Millennium Cycle on which Bursford achieved the record speed was manufactured with extremely high-grade material of the kind that would be more commonly used in the aerospace and Formula One industries. Even the tyres were filled with helium gas and the front chain ring was a massive two feet in diameter and would have required enormous strength to turn it.
Although it took fours to build, it required just 30 seconds of pedalling for Bursford to hit the 209mph mark, after being ‘towed’ on the rolling road up to 100mph. On another occasion he out-accelerated a Ferrari to 60mph.
Bursford had a history with speed. He was a schoolboy cycling champion and held nine speed records in total. Sadly, this was to be his last, Aged just 41, while cycling on roads near his home in preparation for an attempt on the world hour endurance record, he was struck and killed by a motorist distracted by their mobile phone.
2. PRINCIPAL PLANNING OFFICER (POLICY), SOUTH RIBBLE BOROUGH COUNCIL
Location: Leyland, Lancashire/Hybrid
The job: "Are you looking to take the next step in your planning career in a professional, forward-thinking council? We're offering an opportunity for someone to progress their planning career in a friendly council that prioritises investment in its staff.
"If you have a good understanding of the Local Plan process and are ready to take the next step, this is a fabulous opportunity. You’ll be moving the council forward in its plan making process, advising colleagues and members on all aspects of planning policy and helping to develop others.
"You’ll take a lead role in the planning policy team and assist the planning manager deliver a modern, customer focused, business friendly planning service."
Fun fact: British Leyland – both a manufacturing success and disaster. A success because at its height it was a leading manufacturer of buses, lorries and cars which owned both Triumph and Rover (collectively manufacturing MG, Jaguars and Land Rovers); a disaster because it became so big and unwieldy with so much duplication of processes and products across its various ranges that it went bankrupt and had to be take into government control. Over time, it has become a byword for the failure of British industry in the 1970s.
It started brightly enough, with steam-powered lawnmowers back in 1896, as the Lancashire Steam Motor Company, operating out of the town of Leyland. It diversified into vans and then petrol engined wagons. After a name change to Leyland Motors, the company started building luxury tough cars; during the war, it diversified further, into the manufacture of military vehicles, including tanks. Postwar, It built trolleybuses and commercial vehicles and rapid expansion gear with acquisition of other companies.
The company and its range of vehicles grew and grew and grew, until it was an unwieldy behemoth trying to manage far too many brands and marques, including Rover, Jaguar, Daimler, Austin, MG, Morris. It could never last...
Nowadays, there is still a Leyland Trucks division, owned by an American company and which still operates in the town of Leyland itself; and the Leyland name is still used by the Indian-owned Ashok Leyland, which manufactures buses, trucks and defence vehicles for India and African nations. Jaguar Land Rover continues under different ownership, as does the MG marque. Everything else was either sold or closed down. A salutary tale.
3. PLANNING APPLICATIONS SENRIO PRACTITIONER, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL
Location: Nottingham/Hybrid
The job: "This is an exciting opportunity for someone with a high level of personal drive to work in the development management team, undertaking a caseload of often complex minerals, waste and county council development applications whilst also working alongside the team manager to assist with the supervision of the team, including direct line management responsibility for other planning officers in the team, and deputising for the team manager when required.
"You will have a recognised degree/diploma in planning plus five years relevant experience of working in a local planning authority dealing with major, complex development management matters, including minerals and waste matters. You will also be comfortable dealing with members of the public, the media, technical experts, senior officers and elected members."
Fun fact: Trent Bridge – both an impressive feat of engineering which provides a gateway to the city of Nottingham and a link between three stadiums that make this small area of Nottingham either side of the River Trent a kind of sporting hothouse.
The bridge itself can be dated back to 920 BCE (AD) and had quite a life before being completely replaced in the 1860s. Meanwhile, the city’s sporting life had seen an uptick with the growth of codified sports in the Victorian period and it all seems to have centred on the area either side of the Trent, in the Meadows (north of the river) and West Bridgford (south of the river and the location of Nottinghamshire County Council’s office).
First there was the Trent Bridge cricket ground on the south side of the river, opened in 1841, and which has now evolved into a leading test match venue and one of the world’s most famous and favoured cricket grounds.
At various points over the next half-century the cricket ground also provided a home to both Notts County FC (founded in 1862 and the world's oldest professional football club) and Nottingham Forest FC, founded in 1865. Both clubs also played at The Meadows Stadium on the north side of the river
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The travails of being a professional club without a home stadium became too much for both clubs and each built their own grounds in the decades around the turn of the century – the City Ground (Nottingham Forest) opening in 1898 and Meadow Land (Notts County) in 1910.
Both clubs presumably stayed in the area because they had an established presence; the upshot is that there’s a football stadium right next door to a cricket stadium (the City Ground, on the south bank of the Trent); and just 300 metres away and in clear view there’s another football stadium on the north side of the river (Meadow Lane).
We can only think it must be a very busy part of town on certain days of the year...
4. PLANNING TECHNICAL OFFICER, NORTH WARWICKSHIRE BOROUGH COUNCIL
Location: Atherstone, Warwickshire/Hybrid
The job: "This position is ideal for a oplanner in the early stages of their career looking for an opportunity to be part of a high performing team. You will manage your own caseload of householder and 'minor' planning applications as well as offer advice and assistance to prospective applicants and the public in general on all town planning matters. You will be required to prepare reports to be presented to the planning and development board and to take an active part in the appeal process.
"This post requires you to hold a full valid driving licence and have access to a vehicle."
Fun fact: Continuing the sporting theme...
The Warwickshire town of Atherstone may well be notable for many things. But the most idiosyncratic, perhaps, is the annual Shrove Tuesday Atherstone Ball Game. This is a throwback to the medieval tradition of districts, towns and even counties playing ball games for pride (and sometimes prizes).
In this case, the Atherstone Ball Game is said to honour a game played between Leicestershire ad Warwickshire in 1199, in which a bag of gold was used as a ball and which was won by Warwickshire. At one time such games were common throughout England, but it’s thought that just three continue to be played.
When we say ball game, this isn’t exactly like the kind of ball games we’re used to in the modern world. Think more a game of ultra-violent rugby played along the length of a main street involved hundreds of participants mobbing, wrestling, pushing, kicking and mauling one another – for hours.
It’s carnage. Shops have to be boarded up in Atherstone’s main street and the West Midlands Ambulance Service is on standby throughout the game’s two-hour duration. The ball itself is a huge thing made especially for the occasion and local kids are let off school early to watch the match.
After two hours of rucking, fighting and mauling, the person in possession of the ball at the end of play is declared the winner. It’s not clear what the prize for winning is, but we imagine they’ll need a fair bit of medical attention before they can go home.
The sheer violence of ball games and the chaos and damage they caused to towns led to them being effectively outlawed by the Highways Act 1835, which stopped such contests taking place in the street – although games continued in some places. Since then, the Atherstone Game has survived attempts to close it down and public meeting to determine its future after a particularly spicy contest got out of hand. But it’s still going and you can even watch it on YouTube. Be warned – it’s not a pleasant spectacle.
5. ENFORCEMENT OFFICER (PLANNING), MID DEVON DISTRICT COUNCIL
Location: Tiverton, Devon
The job: "We are looking to recruit an enthusiastic and capable individual who is interested in using their professional skills and knowledge to help us deliver a high quality planning enforcement service.
"As part of the development management team, you will play an important role in investigating and resolving cases of alleged breaches of planning control. This will involve making site visits, undertaking site surveillance and conducting interviews where necessary. You will prepare reports, documents and evidence in connection with cases for planning committee, appeals and legal proceedings and give evidence.
"Candidates will need to demonstrate that they have planning experience and are able to apply planning policy and legislation on a range of matters and will be a confident self-motivated professional with excellent written and verbal communications skills.
"The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate that they can effectively and efficiently deal with a range of reported planning breaches; draft reports on appropriate courses of action; service notices; progress matters and instigate legal action where and when necessary."
Fun fact: The small town of Bradninch in Mid Devon was one of the last places in England to punish someone by putting them in the stocks. In 1866, a Cornelius Pippet, a cooper (barrel-maker) was convicted of drunkenness and placed in the stocks for six hours.
To be clear, stocks differ from a pillory, although both consist of large wooden boards with hinges that are used to restrain people. Stocks hold a person by their feet; a pillory by their neck and wrists.
They were used as a form of public humiliation for offences that didn’t quite merit a full physical punishment – even so, the person stuck in the stocks or pillory would very likely be subject to kicking, hitting, having objects thrown at them, being spat and generally vilified and insulted. It would not have been a peasant experience – but that was the point.
At one time every town in England was required to have stocks for ‘unruly artisans’ and they were often in very prominent public locations, for maximum humiliation. Although they’ve never been formally abolished, the practice died out during the Victorian period and the last recorded use of stocks was in 1872 in Newbury, Berkshire.
Bradninch's stocks are kept in the town’s Guildhall, along with other historic memorabilia, should you ever wish to take a look.
Image credits | Shutterstock; iStock; iStock; Anton Vierietin, Shutterstock; Paul McLelland, Shutterstock