Skip to main content

The Friday Five 13.01.23

Published on: 13 Jan 2023

Top five square_shutterstock [square]It's the Friday Five, our weekly round-up of town planning jobs and place-based facts (which may not actually qualify as facts in the strictest sense). Here you go:

1. SENIOR/ASSOCIATE PLANNER, BE FIRST


Location: Barking, Essex/Flexible

The job: “The planning consultancy team within Be First is small but high-performing team of five consultants. We provide a range of planning consultancy services working to secure planning permission for the council’s portfolio of sites, for developers and investors working in the borough, along with projects outside the borough, too. We work across a wide variety of sectors, including housing, commercial, industrial, film and education.

“We are looking for an individual to support our team through:

  • Provision of considered and commercially aware planning strategy advice to clients.

  • Leading the preparation and coordination of planning applications.

  • Managing planning programmes.

  • Inputting into public consultation strategies.

  • Liaison with the wider Be First teams, clients, the public, sub-consultants, and a range of public and private bodies.

  • Providing technical and procedural advice that problem-solves and ‘adds value’.”


Cod [square]Fun fact: You know what a codbanger is don’t you? No? Allow me to enlighten you. Codbangers were once common denizens of Barking, back in the days when it was a notable fishing port serving Billingsgate Fish Market in the City of London to the west. 

Let me explain. From about the 14th until the mid-19th centuries, fishing was the main industry in Barking. By 1850, there were some 220 fishing boats – or ‘smacks' – working out of Barking and around 1,400 men and boys employed in the trade. Boats from Barking would travel as far afield as Iceland, fishing mainly for cod.

The most common form of fishing boat was a ‘welled smack’. This was a boat with a water-filled compartment in the hull in which fish, with their swimming bladders pierced, were kept alive until they reached port. Once back at Barking, the fish were transferred to semi-submerged chests in the River Thames, which kept them alive until they were ready for sale.

It was only at this point that they were removed from the chest and killed with a blow to the head before being carried a few miles to market where they would be sold at a premium price because of their freshness. The people who engaged in this kind of fishing? Codbangers, of course.

The industry died from the mid-19th century on, on account of the River Thames being so horrifically polluted that it was impossible to keep fish alive in chests submerged in The Thames.

Find out more and apply

2. SENIOR PLANNING POLICY OFFICER (NEIGHBOURHOOD), SOUTH OXFORDSHIRE DISTRICT COUNCIL AND VALE OF WHITE HORSE DISTRICT COUNCIL


Location: Abingdon, Oxfordshire/Home

The job: “South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils are looking for a senior neighbourhood planner to cover the management of one of the most active areas of community led planning in the South East.

“This is a high-profile community-facing role. You’ll help manage the council’s neighbourhood planning advice and support service as well as coordinate supporting contributions from the policy team and community planners. We have a large number of neighbourhood plans in progress, covering both market towns and rural village areas. This post will also contribute to the progression of local plan work as required.

“Duties will include:

  • develop the council’s advice and support service on neighbourhood planning options
  • deliver a proactive, customer focused advice and support service to parish councils

  • write briefs, employ consultants and manage contracts for specialist work and projects

  • prepare draft sections on the local plan and other planning policy issues

  • prepare and present evidence supporting the council’s case at examinations

  • assist in local planning arrangements, management of the areas of outstanding natural beauty, nature conservation and transportation matters.”


Abingdon Morris Dancers [square]Fun fact: Each year, on the closest Saturday to the Midsummer Solstice, the residents of Ock Street in Abingdon elect a ‘mock mayor’ amid much celebration and a Morris dancing marathon that lasts from midday into the evening. It’s a custom that was associated with the traditional Abingdon June Fair and dates back to at least the 18th century.

On being elected, the Mayor of Ock is carried shoulder high on a litter of flowers, along with the famous Horns of Ock Street, to the market place where a final dance takes place as the sun sets. 

It may all sound like quaint ritual, but mock mayors once served an important purpose. Ock Street was the poor part of town and the Mayor of Ock was a spokesperson elected by the common people to stand up for their rights and hold the ‘real’ mayor to account. Indeed, Abingdon’s actual mayor is always in attendance for the election of the Mayor of Ock, so some remnant of this relationship remains.

Nowadays, it’s rather more of an excuse for a celebration, plenty of drinking and lots of Morris dancing. As for the Horns of Ock Street – the story goes that young men from Ock Street and nearby Vineyard fought over possession of the horns at a celebratory ox roast in the marketplace. The Ock Street boys won and henceforth paraded the horns each year alongside the Mayor Of Ock street as a way of taunting their beaten rivals. 

The horns were subsequently attached to a carved ox’s head and mounted on the wall of a local pub as a symbol of the street’s independent spirit. This is removed each year, decorated with flowers and mounted on a pole that accompanies the Abingdon Traditional Morris Dance as they dance for the Mayor of Ock.

Find out more and apply

3. DEVELOPMENT PLANNING ADVISER, NATURAL RESOURCES WALES

Location: Flexible. Mid-Wales

The job: “The post holder will assess development proposals for potential environmental impacts across the breadth of Natural Resources Wales interests. They will respond to local development plan and development casework consultations across several local planning authority areas. They will ensure advice is provided to customers that influences sustainable place making and supports the sustainable management of natural resources."

Red kite [square]Fun fact: Red kites seem to be abundant nowadays (particularly along the M40 corridor) but just a century ago they had been reduced by persecution to just handful of birds that clung on in the relatively isolation of Mid Wales. Its recovery is a remarkable story and shows what conservation is capable of.

In the Middle Ages red kites were a species protected by royal decree because they were seen as a valuable scavenger, keeping streets clean of carrion and rotting food. They’re even referred to in Shakespeare’s King Lear in the line “when the kite builds, look to your lesser linen” on account of the bird’s habit of stealing linen hung out to dry during nesting season.

At some point the tide turned and the bird was declared vermin. Persecution began in the mid-1500s, with bounties paid for dead birds. By 1871 the red kite was extinct in England; by 1879 in Scotland, too. In 1903, when protection efforts began, just a handful were known of in the old oakwoods and undisturbed valleys of Mid Wales (in fact, all Welsh red kites can be traced back to a single female who hung on during this period). Despite extensive efforts their numbers did not increase, however – basically the area wasn’t a good source of food for them, they were still preyed on illegally and chemicals used in farming had an impact on breeding success, too.

In the early ’90s kites from Sweden and Spain were reintroduced to Scotland and the Chilterns in England, as official feeding centres in Wales were beginning to boost numbers there. It’s been an astonishing success. In 1989 there were just 52 known red kite nests in Wales; there are now an estimated 4,000 breeding pairs in the UK and the range of these magnificent birds – which are absolutely not vermin – is spreading by the year.

Find out more and apply

4. PLANNING OFFICER, SOUTH YORKSHIRE MAYORAL COMBINED AUTHORITY


Location: Sheffield, South Yorkshire

The job: “We are currently recruiting a planning officer to work within our housing, infrastructure and planning team. Your role will be to work with local planning authorities and developers both to ensure local plans and strategies reflect strategic economic, transport and other infrastructure priorities, and to secure funding contributions for enhanced public transport and active travel infrastructure and services from new developments. 

“You will prepare planning advice to the Mayor and SYMCA on planning matters. In essence, you will be a key player in delivering a proactive planning service to help achieve a stronger, greener and fairer economy for South Yorkshire.

“The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) brings together the local authorities of Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield and the private sector through the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). These bodies together serve the communities and businesses of South Yorkshire. “

Sheffield Wednesday [square]Fun fact: More birds of prey. You may know that Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is nicknamed ‘the Owls’ and it would be reasonable to assume that there’s some kind of regional association with these birds (there are five species in the UK, all beautiful and all under threat). Actually, no; it’s more of a linguistic coincidence.

Sheffield Wednesday are called the Owls because they’re based in the Sheffield suburb of Owlerton and have been since 1900 (the club was founded in 1867 and is one of the oldest professional clubs in the world). Owlerton/owls, right? They’ve been called that since 1912, when a player presented the club with an owl mascot. From the 1950s, an owl has featured on the club crest and you’re as likely to hear someone refer to ‘the Owls’ as ‘the Wednesday’ (their original full name).

Yeah, but, you may be thinking, Owlerton is named after owls? Wrong again. Step into etymology corner for a moment. Owlerton is thought to derive from the Old English ‘alor-tun’ meaning a ‘farmstead by the alders’, ‘alor’ being an old term for the alder tree. So the owls on Owlerton aren’t birds at all, but trees, and Sheffield Wednesday should by rights be called ‘the Alders’ and have a tree on their club crest, not an owl. These people really should do their research.

Find out more and apply

5. ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, PLANNING AND BUILDING CONTROL, MANCHESTER CITY COUNCIL

Location: Manchester

The job: “Manchester is one of the world’s greatest cities, a place with a reputation for innovation and creativity; a thriving regional economy; and a proud sense of identity. We are a city with a rich history, a vibrant present-day, and much to look forward to in the future.

“Central to our success and our future plans is the development which is taking place in the city. We have a number of nationally significant schemes including Science Partnership and Citylabs, the Castlebrooke Investment, First Street, the Northern Gateway and Trinity Islands, the redevelopment of Manchester Airport, the regeneration of Wythenshawe town centre and the transformation of North Manchester General Hospital. We’re creating great places that bring people and communities together.

“We are seeking an assistant director, planning and building control to play a pivotal role in ensuring the future development of our city is delivered. You will provide leadership to our planning, building control and compliance, supporting the delivery of our objectives for growth, new homes and economic growth, whilst ensuring that we meet our environmental, quality and sustainability commitments.”

Stack of bed sheets [square]Fun fact: Another oddity of nomenclature. If you were in Australia and asked someone the way to Manchester (bear with me), there’s a fair chance you’d be directed to the linen department of a local store. Yup, linen – particularly bed linen – is known as ‘Manchester’ in Australia.

It’s pretty obvious when you think about it. For a long time, industrial Manchester was pretty much the cotton capital of the world and became a byword internationally for high-quality fabric. 

For some reason, in Australia the association has remained – to the degree that bed linen in shops is still referred to as Manchester. Perhaps it’s because fabric from Manchester carried with it a sense of prestige and a kind of snobbery set in and stuck. In any case, adverts still refer to Manchester and department stores still have a Manchester department.

But, as the Australia Travel Questions website points out, no one in Australia actually calls their bedclothes Manchester outside of a shop setting, in the same way that no-one in the UK actually uses the term ‘haberdashery’ except when referring to the haberdashery department in shops. Anyway, sleep well in your Manchester tonight, folks.

Find out more and apply

Image credits | iStock; Peter Titmuss, Shutterstock; iStock; Michael715, Shutterstock; New Africa, Shutterstock