The Friday Five 06.01.23
Happy new year, y'all. You're feeling a sense of renewal, right? You're looking for a fresh challenge, yeah? A new start. You know what you need, don't you? You need a new job. Look no further - here are five of the best from Planner Jobs this week. And if the jobs don't interest you, the fun facts will. Oh yes.
1. CONSENTS AND ENVIRONMENT MANAGER, SSE
Location: Perth, Glasgow, Aberdeen or Inverness
The job: “SSEN Transmission is seeking highly motivated and experienced consents managers/environmental planners to support the delivery of major, large-scale terrestrial transmission infrastructure. You will work on iconic, national infrastructure projects directly facilitating Scotland's ambitions to meet net zero through the transportation of renewable energy to the centres of demand.
“Key responsibilities for the roles will include:
- Work as part of a multi-disciplinary project team to secure planning permission and Electricity Act consents for nationally significant electricity infrastructure projects
- Lead on and coordinate site appraisals and optioneering studies to ensure all consenting and technical risks are understood
- Oversee and manage external consultants to deliver robust Environmental Impact Assessments
- Develop, control and build mutually beneficial external stakeholder relationships.”
Fun fact: The forthcoming coronation of King Charles will include – among much other paraphernalia and spectacle – a remarkable object that has been a source of dispute between England and Scotland for centuries. The stone of Scone, also known as the stone of Destiny, is a 150-kilogram carved block of old red sandstone that was used as a seat for the coronation of Scottish kings.
The stone was quarried near Perth and kept at Scone Abbey in Scone. Its full history is the subject of much speculation and myth but what's certain is that it was seized by Edward I's forces during n invasion of Scotland in 1296 and taken to Westminster Abbey where it was fitted into a wooden chair (pictured) and subsequently used in the coronation of English monarchs (and, following the Treaty of Union in 1707, monarchs of Great Britain and the United Kingdom).
This has been a source of some tension, as the stone has a special significance for many Scots. An agreement was reached in 1328 to return the stone to Scotland, but rioting crowds prevented its transport. On Christmas Day 1850, it was seized by four Scottish students who intended to return it to Scotland. They were only partially successful as the stone broke in half (probably the result of a Suffragette bombing in Westminster Abbey some decades earlier) and the Church of Scotland revealed its whereabouts to the London police.
In 1996, it was finally agreed to return the Stone of Scone to Scotland. It now resides in Edinburgh Castle while it awaits the completion of the redevelopment of Perth City Hall, which will be its new home. In the meantime, however, it is still to be used in the coronation of the UK monarch and will be temporarily returned to Westminster Abbey for the coronation of Charles III in May.
2. SENIOR PLANNING ENFORCEMENT OFFICER, BASSETLAW DISTRICT COUNCIL
Location: Worksop, Nottinghamshire
The job: “As a key member of our progressive development management team. We are looking for a confident individual to lead our team of officers on a range of complex and high profile planning enforcement cases.
“To succeed in this role, you must have a sound knowledge and understanding of planning legislation and policy at both a local and national level and have extensive experience of dealing with complex planning cases.
“Bassetlaw is an attractive place to live and work. It includes the most northerly district of Nottinghamshire, bordering Derbyshire, South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, with two main population centres – Retford and Worksop – each surrounded by a network of picturesque villages. All of our three offices in Worksop, Retford and Carlton Forest are easily accessible from the M1 and A1.
“We are ambitious, creative and innovative. Our vision is to deliver a dynamic district where people want to live, work and prosper and to work in partnership with others to develop a better quality of life for all.”
Fun fact: One of the most extraordinary – and least showy – of the National Trust's properties is the very prosaically named Mr Straw's House in Worksop. It is, as its name suggests the house of Mr Straw, a relatively ordinary semi-detached home built in 1905 that has been preserved almost exactly as it was after William Straw and his family occupied it in 1923.
Mr Straw was a successful tea dealer and grocer. His wife, Florence, was the daughter of a town councillor. They were relatively well-to-do and the house, in its decor and furnishings, represents the fashionable tastes of a middle class family of the period. William Straw died in 1932. His wife did little to change the house. Their sons, William and Walter took over the running of the house and business in 1939 after Florence's death and, living frugally, changed nothing.
They did, however, amass an enormous collection of everyday objects, from brushes and tools to pencils, hip flasks, clothing and tins of food that have remained unopened. When the last of the sons died aged 92 in 1990, he left the collection of more than 30,000 objects to the National Trust. The house and the neighbouring home were both left to his tenants, who sold the Straw house to the National Trust.
William Straw had recognised the value of his possessions as a record of the emerging middle class in the early part of the 20th century. It's now maintained as such, a museum of suburban life in the 1920s and 30s.
3. PLANNING ENFORCEMENT AND MONITORING OFFICER, LINCOLNSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL
Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire
The job: “Lincolnshire is England’s second largest county and across the rolling hills of the Lincolnshire Wolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Fens, coastal areas and urban and rural landscapes. Lincolnshire County Council has to manage and monitor mineral extraction and waste disposal/recycling developments that serve the needs of local residents and businesses.
“Lincolnshire County Council has granted planning permission for almost 300 mineral and waste sites, including quarries, oil well sites, landfills, anaerobic digesters, waste transfer stations and waste recycling facilities. All of these are subject to conditions to make them acceptable in the places where they are located. This job is about you visiting those sites and ensuring they are operating in accordance with those conditions. You will write reports of your findings which may result in the authority taking enforcement action or prosecutions. You will also investigate mineral and waste operations that are carried out without any planning permission or are being carried out in breach of their conditions.
“Working within our dedicated planning enforcement team and alongside our experienced planning officers, you’ll engage with site operators, landowners, the public and other bodies such as the Environment Agency and other local councils. You will have discretion to develop your negotiation skills to negotiate compliance with planning conditions and advise what needs to be done if planning permission is needed.”
Fun fact: High Bridge in Lincoln is one of the very few remaining bridges in the UK that has buildings on it – and is certainly the oldest. Built in around 1160 AD (or CE, if you prefer), it carries the High Street across the River Witham. The bridge contains a row of timber-framed shops that were built around 1550 and at one time held a chapel for Thomas Becket, too, which had originally been commemorated in 1235.
Such bridges were common in the Middle Ages but most have been demolished because they obstruct river flow and shipping. the best-known example is perhaps London Bridge, which at one time was lined with houses and shops and pubs. It's thought that just two others remain in the UK: Pulteney Bridge in Bath, built in the 1770s, is perhaps the most spectacular example, with shops lining both sides for its full span. A small number of bridges contain chapels, such as that at St Ives in Cambridgeshire.
High Bridge is both a grade I listed building and a schedule ancient monument. It is narrow and has a low arch, which greatly limits the size of the boats that can travel through. It's considered to contribute to floods and after heavy rain is virtually unnavigable – which may be how it got its name.
4. EIA ASSISTANT PROJECT MANAGER, LUC
Location: Bristol and Cardiff
The job: “We are seeking EIA practitioners to join us in our friendly, established environmental planning team in Bristol or Cardiff which has built a strong reputation for delivery of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) across a range of sectors including particularly onshore wind and energy infrastructure.
“This team focuses on the delivery of EIA and the provision of environmental planning support to projects seeking development consent. You will be working collaboratively with our specialist internal teams of ecologists, ornithologists, archaeologists, transport planners and landscape architects, as well as our network of external consultants, and our high-profile clients on an exciting range of projects across the UK.
“You will have the opportunity to work on a range of projects including onshore renewable energy developments, electricity transmission infrastructure, urban regeneration, and greenfield developments. LUC also regularly undertakes independent EIA reviews, and you will have the opportunity to use your EIA skills and experience to help input into these reviews.
“The role includes the opportunity to share and participate actively in the management and ownership of the business through the Employee Ownership Trust.”
Fun fact: Cardiff has been identified by the RSPB as the best urban hotspot for wildlife in the UK. Although London rivals it in terms of species, no other city can compare with the variety of wildlife that can be seen in such a compact area in an urban setting.
To whit: you can see shimmering blue kingfishers in Cardiff Bay; peregrine falcons nest (and hunt from) high rooftops – particularly the city hall clock tower; in summer months the city is alive with swifts that have migrated from Africa.
Eleven of the UK's 17 bat species have been recorded in the city, the most common being pipistrelles and noctules, which are known to nest beneath the city's bridges. The Lesser Garth Cave is also home to Britain's rarest bat, the lesser horseshoe.
Incredibly – and wonderfully – you can also see otters in the rivers and waterways around the city, as well as in Cardiff Bay. Like everywhere else, however, all these species are vulnerable – swift numbers have plummeted in just a few decades, for example, in part because of building works which can destroy long-standing nesting sites. Food for thought, planners.
5. GRADUATE TOWN PLANNER, NORTHERN IRELAND
Location: County Antrim, Belfast
The job: “Penguin Recruitment is delighted to present a fantastic opportunity for a graduate town planner to join a specialist planning, acquisition, design and build specialist company in their head office in Northern Ireland.
“This exciting opportunity has become available within their growing planning department. The role will require you to provide support to the senior planners across multiple planning projects. The successful candidate will perform day-to-day planning and administrative tasks, such as desktop planning reviews, feasibility studies, pre-application consultation exercises, sending client updates, filing documents, and updating internal project trackers.”
Fun fact: The Linen Hall Library in Donegall Square in Belfast is both the oldest library in the city and the most important archive in the world for documents and artefacts relating to The Troubles in Northern Ireland. It's so significant that representatives of all sides of the community have praised its importance as a completely impartial place where you can find all manner of unusual material related to the troubling recent history Northern Ireland. Indeed, after the IRA firebombed the library in 1993, it apologised three times.
The library itself was founded in 1788 by the Belfast Reading Society and soon moved into the White Linen Hall (Belfast was a city where linen production was a major industry) . In the early 20th century it moved into its current premises in Donegall Square, also a former linen warehouse.
It's had a patchy history and has skirted closure on several occasions in spite of its cultural importance, largely because of a lack of investment in cultural institutions and the city centre during The Troubles. The Troubles collection itself contains more than 350,000 items which include fliers, posters, button badges, newspaper clippings, propaganda sheets, political reports and even messages written on cigarette paper by IRA hunger strikers in prison during the 1980s. These reflecting all shades of allegiance and opinion in the conflict.
As such, it's become an incredibly important resource for academics, journalists, politicians, campaigners and anyone else interested in the conflict. And it might not be nearly as rich were it not for librarian Jimmy Vitty having the foresight to keep a civil rights leaflet he had been handed in the city centre in 1968. From there, he and his colleagues determined to collect as much material as they could relating to the conflict, and the subsequent peace process which was sealed by the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
Image credits | iStock; Travel Light, Shutterstock; Mick Harper, Shutterstock
