The Friday Five 03.11.23
It's The Friday Five, our weekly round-up of five of the best town planning jobs currently on Planner Jobs. Plus some fun place-based facts, to tickle your fancy and lift your mood on a dull day. This week, opportunities in Scotland (various parts), Brent, south east London, Stratford (the London one) and Bakewell in Derbyshire. Plus tales of St John's Toun, a muddle of meridians, the love locks of Bakewell and the London's Cathedral of Sewage.
1. LEAD CONSENTS AND ENVIRONMENT MANAGER, SSE
Location: Perth, Glasgow, Aberdeen or Inverness
The job: "SSEN Transmission is seeking a highly motivated and experienced lead consents and environment manager to support the development and consenting of major, large-scale terrestrial transmission infrastructure across Scotland. You will manage a professional team covering a portfolio of iconic, critical national infrastructure projects, ensuring that resources are effectively deployed for environmental optioneering, assessment and consenting deliverables.
"As a mass transporter of renewable energy, we have a major role to play in supporting delivery of Scotland and the UK’s 2030 net zero targets, connecting new onshore and offshore renewables generation and transporting the power generated to demand centres in the rest of Scotland and beyond.
"In addition to working on iconic projects, you will also join a multi-award winning team (and this year shortlisted for the RTPI In-house Planning Team of the Year) recognised for our sector leading planning and sustainability initiatives. There will be a high level of autonomy for your projects with the benefit of experienced support and guidance where required."
Fun fact: Perth is located close to Scone Abbey, which was a house of Augustinian canons and home to the Stone of Scone (also known as the Stone of Destiny), on which the King of Scots were traditionally crowned. This enhanced the early importance of the city, and Perth was the capital of Scotland from the 9th century until 1437. It became one of the richest burghs in the country, engaging in trade with France, the Low Countries, and the Baltic countries, and importing goods such as Spanish silk and French wine.
Perth was considered Scotland’s ‘second city’ until local government changes in 1975. Then in the late-1990s, the UK Government and the devolved Scottish Executive produced a list of approved cities, from which Perth was omitted.
The area was one of the 26 bidders for city status to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012, and on 14 March 2012, Perth’s city status was successfully reinstated and became Scotland’s seventh city.
And an additional little nugget of information... In medieval times, Perth was known as ‘St John’s Toun’ by its inhabitants. This was a reference to its principal church, which was dedicated to St John the Baptist. The name is preserved in the name of Perth’s football team – St Johnstone.
2. SENIOR PLANNING ECOLOGIST, BRENT COUNCIL
Location: Wembley, London
The job: "We have an exciting opportunity for a senior planning ecologist to join our busy spatial planning and transportation team. Your role will be crucial in taking forward biodiversity net gain (BNG) ensuring this work plays a key part in tackling the climate and ecological emergency within Brent. The role will provide support to development management to discharge their planning duties in a way that meets the requirements of the Environment Act, as well as work closely with planning policy, parks and open spaces and climate change teams to protect and enhance Brent’s biodiversity.
"You will be part of the planning policy team within spatial planning and transportation. You will be responsible for taking a proactive approach to BNG and will provide the planning service with biodiversity and ecology expertise, inputting into strategically important planning applications, masterplans, site allocations and planning guidance and briefs.
"Brent is a tremendously vibrant London borough where the iconic arch of Wembley Stadium dominates the skyline. Spanning both inner and outer London, it is a borough of huge contrasts in terms of its economic, environmental, ethnic and social make up."
Fun fact: Here’s the thing about Wembley Stadium – despite its worldwide fame, it’s probably not even the most impressive building in the London borough in which its based. That accolade is probably best reserved for Brent Civic Centre, which is now celebrating its first decade and, would you believe, is precisely where the planner who gets this job will be based. When they clock off, they won’t even need to leave the building to get access to its two cafés, entertainment spaces, meeting rooms and wedding garden.
Situated literally in the shadow of football’s spiritual home, Brent Civic Centre won a slew of awards for its construction, its secondary purpose as a ‘community hub’ and its forward-thinking approach to sustainability. It has built-in bat boxes, a succession of planted internal balconies and its boiler even runs on fish oil. Does your boiler run on fish oil? Does it? Our point entirely.
About 2,000 staff and councillors now work in the building, which replaced the 14 separate offices in which most of Brent Council’s services were previously administered. If you’re off to the footie any time soon, a quick glance right before you hit the stairs up to the stadium will get you a grandstand view of this impressive public space.
3. PLANNING OFFICER (X3), LOCAL AUTHORITY, GREENWICH/LEWISHAM
Location: Greenwich/Lewisham, south east London
The job: "We are looking for three qualified planners for entry level roles within a busy planning department. The job will entail:
- Manage and process all householder applications and conversions, lawful development certificates, minor commercial applications, advertisements applications, applications within conservation areas and listed building consents
- Manage and process complex minor applications, with support from senior planning officers
- In discussion with a senior planning officer, carry out unaccompanied site visits on allocated development proposals.
- Give advice to customers on development management matters, including the need for planning permission, planning legislation and policy, planning processes and procedures, interpreting drawings and liaising with pressure groups, neighbours, businesses and councillors."
Fun fact: Think of Greenwich and there's a fair chance you'll think of the Greenwich Meridian, the ‘prime meridian’. This is an imaginary line running north/south around the Earth, dividing it into two hemispheres. This line, with the Greenwich Meridian at 0 degrees, forms the basis of navigation systems for shipping, aircraft, explorers, mapmakers and more.
We all know it’s there (or was: the modern international standard prime meridian is actually 100 metres from the original Greenwich Meridian, having been calculated more accurately – but let’s not get into that). But do you know why Greenwich was chosen as the location for the first internationally recognised prime meridian?
It’s largely a combination of there being a muddle of meridians, Britain’s maritime and commercial supremacy in the mid-19th century and Greenwich being the location of the Royal Observatory, at the time the world’s foremost astronomical observatory.
The Greenwich Meridian was first established in 1851 by a mathematician and astronomer called Sir George Airey, who located it at the Royal Observatory. At the time this meridian was one among many, with different nations using their own starting points for navigation – usually passing through their own nation (of course).
By the 1880s, however, the Greenwich Meridian was in the driving seat, with about two-thirds of all shipping using this as their main reference point for navigation. The need for standardisation at a time of increasing global trade was obvious, and in 1884 the US president (Chester A Arthur – remember him? Me neither) convinced a meeting of 41 representatives of 25 nations to make a final determination. Greenwich, being the most widely used, won the day and this became the standard prime meridian for use by international shipping.
Unless you were French. The French boycotted the meeting and continued to use their Paris Meridian for some decades, despite everyone else adopting the Greenwich Meridian for maps and navigation. We would say ‘plus ça change’, but that would be desperately unfair to French people, who are excellent folk and whose tradition of independent thought is admirable. But not on this occasion.
The Greenwich Meridian is marked by a stainless steel strip in the courtyard of the Royal Observatory and a green laser shining north across the London night sky.
4. PLANNING MANAGER, LONDON LEGACY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
Location: Stratford, east London
The job: "This is an exciting opportunity to play a hands-on role in shaping this important part of East London. Working as part of a diverse and friendly multi-disciplinary project team, you will play an integral role in the planning, delivery and implementation of mixed-use property development, regeneration projects on land owned by LLDC as well as Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park venues and assets. Every day is different!
"The role will require you to demonstrate good analytical skills to successfully approach technical town planning related problems and contribute to their resolution during pre-application, application and post determination stages. You will be required be able to prepare and present to senior members of the team a range of planning related reports and management tools to effectively monitor planning permissions. As part of the role, you will also require good verbal communication skills to liaise and consult with internal and external stakeholders to ensure all town planning related matters are resolved in an efficient and successful manner.
"We’d welcome applications from people based in our local communities, or those from traditionally under-represented groups. We’re very proud of our inclusive culture at LLDC."
Fun fact: From Gotham City to the East End? Stratford's ornate, grade II* listed Abbey Mills pumping station doubled as the Arkham Asylum for the 2005 film Batman Begins. No, really. Its Italianate Gothic Revival architecture carried just the right degree of flamboyance and menace for director Christopher Nolan, who shot most of the film in and around London (mostly at Shepperton Studios). St Pancras Railway Station also served as the asylum in the movie.
But Abbey Mills has some serious provenance. It was built in the 1860s as part of the feted engineer Jospeh Bazalgette’s mammoth sewerage system to carry filthy water from the centre of London to the outskirts of the city. This commission arose as a result of the ‘Great Stink’ of 1858, in which the awful pong of human effluence and industrial waste that clogged The Thames forced the closure of Parliament and brought the nation to a virtual standstill.
Bazalgette’s sewer is an engineering marvel and arguably one of the nineteenth century’s great constructions – it’s still in use today, for heaven’s sake. As is the Abbey Mills pumping station. Although the sewer itself is being upgraded with the construction of the even more mammoth Tideway tunnel ‘super sewer’, the pumping station will remain in use as a means of carrying sewage away from the city via the newly built Lee Tunnel to the Beckton Sewage Treatment Works.
The Abbey Mills Pumping Station was built at a time when civic buildings, even those designed to pump sewage, had a grandiosity that we rarely see today. It was designed by Bazalgette and architect Charles Driver in the Gothic style that was popular at the time. Inside, it housed eight huge steam engines which, by 1920, were pumping 35 million gallons of sewage annually. Such architectural and engineering magnificence earned the station a nickname to match its splendour: the Cathedral of Sewage. Amen to that.
5. AREA TEAM MANAGER, PEAK DISTRICT NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY
Location: Bakewell, Derbyshire
The job: "As the area team manager, you will be responsible for overseeing a dedicated team of staff who handle development management and monitoring and enforcement activities within the South Area of the national park.
"You will contribute significantly to shaping the future of the Peak District and ensuring sustainable development and preservation of its unique character. Specifically, you will:
- Lead and manage a team of planning professionals, providing guidance, support, and mentoring to ensure high productivity and professional growth.
- Co-ordinate and oversee all development management and enforcement activities in the South Area.
- Collaborate closely with colleagues and stakeholders, such as local authorities, landowners, and community groups, to ensure consistent application of the Authority’s planning policies, practices and protocols and effective communication and engagement.
- Provide expert advice and guidance on planning matters to both internal and external parties, promoting best practices and sustainable development principles.
- Stay up to date with relevant legislation, policies, and industry trends."
Fun fact: Yes, the tarts. Of course the tarts. But once you’ve bought yours from one of the local bakeries, why not amble on down to the town’s Love Locks bridge? After all, it’s something of an international tourist attraction.
The fastening of ‘love locks’ to a bridge is believed to have started in Serbia during the Great War. A woman died of heartbreak when her lover cheated on her, so other local women, keen to avoid the same fate, began fastening padlocks on the bridge where the two lovers used to meet.
People started fastening locks to a bridge in Bakewell just over a decade ago. It’s long since been rechristened ‘Bakewell Love Locks Bridge’, its standing as a key (sorry) local landmark. Today, locals are so invested in their local attraction that they are considering what to do when the sheer weight of locks on the bridge makes it a safety risk.
Image credits | All Shutterstock
