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The Friday Five 16.06.23

Published on: 15 Jun 2023

It's the Friday Five, our weekly round-up of job opportunities and fun place-based facts. This week, new opportunities in West Sussex, West Yorkshire, the East Midlands, Derbyshire and south east London. Plus tragic tales of brilliant people who burnt brightly but briefly (and at least one who lived a long and healthy life).

1. PRINCIPAL/SENIOR LAWYER (PLANNING), HORSHAM DISTRICT COUNCIL

Location: Horsham, West Sussex

The job: "Assisting the head of legal and democratic services, you will provide an efficient and economic legal service to the council in all matters pertaining to planning law and practice.

"As a principal/senior planning lawyer, you will be one of our go-to experts in the area, you will manage your own caseload giving legal advice and assistance to the Council and its officers and this will include the drafting and negotiation of complex s106 agreements, nomination agreements and enforcement notices. You will also be required to draft, prepare, and comment on committee reports, policy documents and other briefing papers and to attend planning committees or other meetings, where you will provide prompt, clear and accurate advice in all areas as the Legal advisor.  Clear written and verbal advice should be given to members and client departments on the impact of legislation and codes of practice and local policies.

"Depending on your role (please see career structure and career grading document) you will either head and supervise the planning team as a principal planning lawyer with direct reports to you, or you will help train, develop, and supervise our more junior staff, as a senior planning lawyer."

Percy Bysse Shelley [square]Fun fact: Radical thinker, Romantic poet, essayist, political agitator and walking social scandal Percy Bysshe Shelley was born in Horsham in 1792. The son of the local MP, he displayed an impressive intellect from an early age and, unusually, an interest in radical ideas. He was badly bullied at school (Eton), partly because of his eccentricity and partly because he refused to conform to the school’s social norms, which involved effectively being a servant (or ‘fag’) to older pupils.

Later on, he was expelled from the University of Oxford for basically ignoring his ‘proper’ studies and engaging in his own – which including blowing things up in chemistry experiments in his rooms – and for anonymously writing political tracts that brought the university ito disrepute (with titles like The Necessity of Atheism).

He was astonishingly productive. His first novel was published while he was still a schoolboy; another followed shortly after. He published polemic verse and prose throughout his university years and beyond. He wrote poetry prolifically; he engaged in two elopements, one with a schoolgirl and another with Mary Godwin (who became his wife, Mary Shelley and authored Frankenstein). He lived, scandalously, in an open marriage and with two women in Italy. He had at least six children by at least two women. He agitated for revolt against Britain in Ireland and campaigned for Catholic rights. He wrote a series of poems that have lasted through the ages and inspired generations of subsequent writers for their technical prowess and social and political radicalism. His writings on non-violent resistance inspired Gandhi and many of his ideas anticipated those that support progressive politics today (including his arguments in favour of vegetarianism that were about two centuries ahead of their time).

And all this was before he even reached the age of 30. Shelley was just 29 when he died in a boating accident off the coast of Sardinia.

Find out more and apply

2. PLANNING OFFICERS (DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT), CALDERDALE COUNCIL

Location: Halifax, West Yorkshire

The job: "Calderdale comprises of a fascinating mix of towns, villages and Pennine countryside, conveniently located between Leeds and Manchester.

"If you’re looking for a challenging and varied role in a busy planning team, we’d like to hear from you. Applications will be welcomed from those who can demonstrate a recognised degree providing eligibility for membership of the Royal Town Planning Institute.

"We would also be interested in applications from individuals who may have a relevant degree in a related field and are interested in becoming qualified planners. As a council we are committed to supporting successful applicants to complete relevant planning qualifications."

Hebden Bridge [square]Fun fact: Hebden Bridge in Calderdale is colloquially known as Trouser Town. this is on account of the fact that it was at one time a centre for clothes manufacturing and in its heyday (until production moved overseas in the 1970s and 80s) produced around a million pairs of trousers a year.

The town was especially well known for making working men’s trousers out of fustian – a generic name for corduroy or moleskin (giving rise to another nickname, Fustianopolis). Trouser manufacturer still happens in the town but on a much smaller scale.

But the name lingers – it’s given rise to a locally brewed beer (Trouser Town IPA), provided the theme for the local arts festival in 2017 and an album name by a local band, The Clementines.
 

Find out more and apply

3. PRINCIPAL PLANNING OFFICER, STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT, CHARNWOOD BOROUGH COUNCIL

Location: Charnwood, Leicestershire

The job: "Charnwood is a vibrant borough with a mix of market towns as well as attractive conservation villages. Located between the three cities of Derby, Nottingham and Leicester, the borough’s main town and administrative centre is Loughborough. Charnwood’s busy development management team processes in excess of 2,500 planning applications each year of all types.

"We are seeking to appoint a dynamic, motivated and organised planning professional who is keen to make a significant contribution to the performance and achievements of our strategic development team and in supporting the delivery of the council’s Corporate Plan. We will offer you plentiful and varied experience in a key role within our development management Service as well as an opportunity to gain or develop your management skills.

"You will have significant experience of managing complex planning applications and appeals, in particular those relating to sustainable urban extensions. You could also be responsible for the line management of one team member within the strategic development team and so this may provide the opportunity to either gain some management experience or to expand on existing skills that you hold. You will need to have a positive, solution focussed approach and be able to work at senior level to overcome barriers to the planning and delivery of strategic development. You will be willing to contribute to the delivery of transformational change and continuous improvement to secure excellent customer service working with elected representatives, partners and stakeholders."

Tour bus [square]Fun fact: Loughborough was the unlikely location for what was, arguably, the world’s first package tour. OK, it’s a bit of a stretch, but it was a trip to Loughborough in 1841 that led Thomas Cook to begin organising more ambitious and more complex tours to other parts of the UK and then Europe. Thomas Cook, of course, still exists today as a leading tour company, founded on the concept of the all-in-one package tour.

But, to the point. Thomas Cook, from Leicester, was a Baptist minister and a leading voice in the Temperance movement in the Midlands. On 5 July 1841 he chartered a train from the Midland Counties Railway Company to take 500 supporters of the South Midland Temperance Association on an excursion to Loughborough to attend a Temperance Gala. 

Each participant paid a shilling for the 12-mile trip and received a return ticket, entry to the gala and a cup of tea.

Cook was hooked. He’d hit upon a fine idea which gave birth to his often stated mission: “To make travel simple, easy and a pleasure.”

By the end of 1846 he had, among other trips, organised a tour of Scotland for 350 people. In 1851, he arranged for 150,000 people to travel to the Great Exhibition. By 1855 he was planning tours of Euopre that ended in Paris for the exhibition. By 1869 he was chartering steam ships for a journey along the River Nile. 

Among his many travel innovations were the concept that a single payment should provide an all-in-one experience and in so doing he opened up a new market for mass tourism. In Italy, for example, a ‘circular’ ticket would allow travel by train for a preset number of days on predetermined routes; accompanying hotel coupons could be exchanged for lodgings and meals at designated accommodations. He introduced notes that could be exchanged at selected outlets for Italian lira at a predetermined exchange rate.
He basically made travel very, very much easier and more accessible and created new tourism markets all over Europe and beyond. In keeping with his beliefs, he and his wife ran a small Temperance hotel above the head office of the Thomas Cook & Son travel agency in Fleet Street, London.

Thomas Cook died in 1892 at the ripe old age of 83.

Find out more and apply

4. PLANNING ENFORCEMENT AND COMPLIANCE OFFICER, AMBER VALLEY BOROUGH COUNCIL

Location: Ripley, Derbyshire

The job: "Amber Valley Borough Council is seeking an enthusiastic and well-motivated person to join our development management team, to lead the council’s delivery of an effective and responsive planning enforcement service.

"You will need to have a broad up-to-date knowledge of legislation, policies and guidance in relation to both planning and enforcement issues, together with experience in processing planning enforcement cases within a local authority.

"You will need to be qualified to at least degree/diploma level in planning or a similar field, or, have at least three years’ experience of working in planning enforcement."

K2 at sunset [square]Fun fact: Mountaineer Alison Hargreaves, who became the first person to solo climb all of the great north faces of the Alps in a single season, was born in Belper, Derbyshire, in 1962. At the time of her ascent of the Eiger in 1993, she was six months pregnant with her second child.

She was obviously brilliant and hugely driven – to her detriment. Among her other astonishing achievements was climbing Everest without the aid of Sherpas (trained mountain guides and support climbers from the Nepalese Sherpa community) or bottled oxygen. This was part of an audacious endeavour in 1995 to climb the  three highest mountains in the world – Everest, K2 and Kangchenjunga – unaided. 

It was the second of these that took her life, at just 33. Despite being warned that the weather was changing and that it would be too dangerous to go ahead, she did so. In fact, she reached the summit, in good weather conditions; but a violent storm on the way back down blew her off the side of the mountain. Five other climbers also reached the summit the same evening. None of them survived.

Hargreaves’ son, Tom Ballard, though just seven when his mother died, inherited her passion for mountaineering. Indeed, he beat her accomplishment by climbing the six major Alpine north faces solo not just in a single season, but over the course of a single winter. A film chronicling the project won several awards. 

Like mother like son, however. As with Hargreaves and Shelley, Ballard burnt brightly but briefly. He died in 2019, aged just 30, while climbing the ninth highest mountain in the world, Nanga Parbat in Kashmir, in poor conditions.

Find out more and apply

5. PLANNING OFFICERS - PRINCIPAL PLANNERS, LONDON BOROUGH OF BEXLEY

Location: Bexleyheath, London

The job: "Bexley is an outer London borough with the best of both worlds, located between the hustle and bustle of London and the Garden of England, Kent. Within the borough we have award winning parks, open spaces and listed heritage sites.

"This is an exciting time for the Bexley as we are at the heart of a regeneration and change as London moves east. We are currently looking to attract an ambitious planner capable of leading on a range of applications. The ideal candidate will have relevant planning qualifications and eligibility for membership of the RTPI. 

"We are looking for individuals at the start of their planning careers as well as individuals with substantial experience of working within development management. You will be ambitious for new opportunities and want to work as part of dynamic and friendly team to meet the borough’s growth ambitions. This role is key for the delivery of the council’s strategic corporate priorities. 

"Working for us you will have the opportunity to make a real difference for our residents, securing growth with new homes and regenerating our town centres. If you’re looking for a new challenge, career progression and an accommodating working culture, come and join us on our journey."

Actor performing [square]Fun fact: Sidcup in the London Borough of Bexley is noted for many things, among them Rose Bruford College, one of the capital’s leading drama schools where acting degrees were pioneered. The school was founded in 1950 by actress Rose Elizabeth Bruford as The Rose Bruford Training College of Speech and Drama. It was started with support from then Poet Laureate John Masefield and actors Laurence Olivier and Peggy Ashcroft.

In 1976 Rose Bruford pioneered the first acting degree before the school moved to the grade II listed 18th-century Lamorbey House, where it remains.

Nowadays, the school offers a wide range of undergraduate and postragraduate courses relating to all aspects of the performing arts, from acting (obviously) to costume design to audio production to set design and construction.

Among its notable alumni are Gary Oldman and Tom Baker, Rosalie Craig, Hayley Squires and the 2019 Booker Prize-winner Bernadine Evaristo.

Find out more and apply

Image credits | iStock; iStock; iStock; Peter John; iStock