The Friday Five 19.01.24
It's The Friday Five, our weekly round-up of five of the best town planning jobs advertised on Planner Jobs in the last seven days. This week, a range of planning opportunities in Haywards Heath, Ipswich, Narborough (it's in Leicestershire), Paisley and Wakefield. Plus tales of an Ouse Valley infrastructure marvel, an overlooked poetess, a chronicler of 1980s Britain, the Paisley snail that changed the law and a Wakefield artist who pioneered a new style of sculpture.
1. ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, PLANNING AND SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY, MID-SUSSEX DISTRICT COUNCIL
Location: Haywards Heath, Sussex
The job: "Mid Sussex is a district with a reputation for making things happen. Our readiness to make brave decisions and our solutions focused approach is consolidating our position as a great place to invest. We’re making meaningful strategic and operational connections across service areas that are bringing about lasting change for our district. In an organisation where there is political appetite for innovation and a direct alignment between corporate and place objectives, this presents a fantastic professional opportunity.
"This role will suit someone who brings expert professional knowledge in strategic planning, along with the breadth of perspective to see how their work connects and influences beyond their own remit. You’ll be able to quickly build rapport and trust with elected members and other stakeholders through expert professional advice and a responsive and engaging style."
Fun fact: The Ouse Valley railway viaduct is an infrastructure marvel. It was constructed during the early Victorian era and opened in 1841. Even today, some describe the ornately designed edifice as ‘the most elegant viaduct in Britain’.
The primary role of the Ouse Valley viaduct is to get Aysha Miah-Edwards, production manager for The Planner, into our London office. Aysha, who lives on the outskirts of Haywards Heath, is routinely whisked across the viaduct’s 37 semi-circular arches and accompanying balustrades, at which point she finds herself briefly suspended 29 metres in the air. Aysha’s train moves north over the viaduct’s 450 metres in length, being one of an average 110 Brighton main line trains that cross the viaduct each day.
Both Aysha and the viaduct have had their structural issues. Aysha once needed her leg in plaster, while the viaduct required major restoration work in the 1890s before suffering further decay throughout the twentieth century. In 1983 - the year Aysha was born - the viaduct was declared a grade II listed structure. This designation led to further extensive restoration in the 1990s.
2. STRATEGIC PLANNING POLICY OFFICER, BABERGH AND MID SUFFOLK DISTRICT COUNCILS
Location: Ipswich/Hybrid
The job: "The councils have recently adopted the Babergh and Mid Suffolk Joint Local Plan Part 1 Development Plan Document in November 2023.
"We're now looking for an individual who is interested in developing and progressing the Joint Local Plan Part 2 through from the initial issues and options stage to adoption.
"The strategic planning policy officer (Grade 5) will:
- provide planning policy advice to interested parties
- lead in the monitoring and analysis of data to inform the annual monitoring report
- support senior officers in the progress of the Joint Local Plan to adoption.
"You'll work collaboratively across the two councils in supporting the development of strategies including infrastructure, as well as working closely with councillors, neighbouring local authorities, Suffolk County Council, and other infrastructure providers.
"Engagement with the community and supporting the preparation of neighbourhood plans are key aspects of the role."
Fun fact: You may not have heard of Jane Taylor, the 18th century poet born in Lavenham, in Babergh in Suffolk, but you almost certainly know her work. Taylor wrote a poem titled ‘The Star’ – which, set to a French melody Ah! vous dirai-je, maman, has become ubiquitous in nurseries and classrooms as 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'.
Taylor was born in Lavenham in 1783, and you can still see her now-grade I listed home, Shilling Grange, in the village. Taylor published her first collection of poems with her sister Jane in 1804, in the catchily titled Original Poems for Infant Minds.
After the roaring success of Original Poems…, the Taylor sisters published Rhymes for the Nursery in 1806, which contained Jane’s most enduring poem, The Star.
We all know it by a different name, of course, and Taylor is rarely, if ever, credited as the author of the lyrics. Her original five-stanza poem is fairly extensive in comparison to the modern nursery rhyme, where generally only the first verse is sung – often ad nauseum, to the delight of parents everywhere.
3. SENIOR PLANNING OFFICER, BLABY DISTRICT COUNCIL
Location: Narborough, Leicestershire
The job: "We're looking for a talented, ambitious and qualified town planner. We're not your average local authority planning department: We're forward thinking, innovative and a fun team, offering a great working environment, a wide range of projects and career development opportunities.
"Don’t just take our word for it though…we won a National RTPI Award for Planning Excellence in 2020, and in July 2023 we were announced as the East Midlands Local Planning Authority of the Year in the RTPI Awards.
"We deal with a comprehensive range of development types; ranging from bespoke rural schemes to large scale commercial development and a 4,250 home new community which is currently under construction. You won’t find a typical planning team approach with us: we're positive, customer focused, and passionate about creating a great place to live, work and visit.
"No two days are the same as a senior planning officer. Your role will be varied and busy and you’ll be responsible for actively contributing to the efficient operation of the planning service and providing exceptional customer service to both internal and external stakeholders, including councillors.
"And, from the moment you join Blaby District Council, we we'll support your personal and professional development so that you grow with the organisation."
Fun fact: The wonderfully named Glen Parva, within the district of Blaby (there are some fantastic place names in the area, including Aston Flamville, Kirby Muxloe and Lubbesthorpe), is where author Sue Townsend spent her formative years and which inspired many of the places and characters in her most famous work, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4.
Published in 1982, the book and its sequels humorously recounted the everyday thoughts of a teenage boy growing up in 1980s Britain and became a phenomenon, selling millions of copies and giving rise to stage plays, musicals and TV series. The book series continued up to 2009, by which time her most famous character was struggling with the trials of early middle age and its attendant health issues (the book was titled Adrian Mole: The Prostate Years).
Townsend's popularity sprang largely from her ability to capture the mundanity of ordinary lives and deliver stories with compassion and humour, and her work carried many of the hallmarks of her own life.
Born to a postman and a canteen worker, she left school at 14 and worked as a packer at Birds Eye, a petrol station attendant and a receptionist. Throughout, she read avidly and developed a keen eye for the characters around her. She had written secretly from adolescence but didn't go public with any of her work until her early 30s via a writing group at the Phoenix Theatre, Leicester. She quickly became writer-in-residence and her career took off from there.
Sadly, Townsend suffered a variety of health problems throughout her life, including diabetes and died a day after her 68th birthday in 2014. She was working on a tenth book in the Adrian Moles series at the time (he would have been around 46 by then).
4. HEAD OF PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT, AGS AIRPORTS
Location: Glasgow Airport, Paisley
The job: "We're looking for someone with senior leadership and mastering planning/policy experience, with a proven track record of outstanding client focus and stakeholder management. As head of planning development, you'll be the lead senior manager responsible for strategic direction of planning and development activities across the group to ensure that AGS Airports achieves its growth vision.
"There's a core requirement to deliver credible strategies, such as the masterplan, airport development strategy and surface access strategy, while managing internal and external stakeholders throughout the creation and execution of these strategic intents.
"You'll also lead the preparation of technical and legal details for external economic development to support decision making for optimisation and you'll be delivering funding and development opportunities that benefiting AGS’ airports, regions and stakeholders. You'll also work closely with the CEO, director of communications and the local airport operations directors to design and deliver an effective public relations and affairs plan.
"Please read the job description on the link below for the full range of responsibilities!"
Fun fact: Paisley is probably best known to people as the name of a particularly decorative fabric design which originated in India but was popularised by the thriving textile industry in the town west of Glasgow (and which is indelibly associated with 1960s psychedelia).
So we could give you a brief history of the Paisley pattern. But why would we do that when we can relate the quirky tale of the Paisley snail, which gave rise to an important element in modern tort law? Tort law, as reminder, is a branch of law that covers civil claim for liabilities by people who feel they've suffered loss or harm as a wrong experienced in everyday life (a 'tort').
Thus the tale of the Paisley snail: a woman dining in a Paisley cafe in 1928 claimed to have found a dead, decomposing snail in the bottle of ginger beer that she had been drinking from and which had been bought for her by her dining companion. The woman, May Donoghue, became ill as result of consuming the drink, so she sued the drink's manufacturer (Mr Stevenson) for negligence (she couldn't sue the seller as she had no contract with him, not having bought the drink herself)
At the time there was no provision in law for such claims – you could only claim for personal injury if you could show physical damage inflicted directly to a person or indirectly via damage to their property. Basically it was felt May Donoghue had no claim because being made ill by drinking a noxious substance didn't fall into either category and, besides, she and Stevenson had no contract in place to be breached.
Her claim created a precedent in law establishing that manufacturs have a duty of care to consumers and are liable for injuries that occur as a result of negligence in the manufacturing process, regardless of any contractual obligations that may or may not exist between the parties. Beyond this, though, it established a wider 'neighbour principle' that everyone must take reasonable care not to injure others who could foreseeably be affected by their action or inaction.
Go careful now...
5. SENIOR PLANNING OFFICER (X2), WAKEFIELD COUNCIL
Location: Wakefield, West Yorkshire
The job: "This is an exciting time to join Wakefield Council’s planning services development management team. Our emerging local plan (scheduled for adoption in January 2024) sets ambitious housing and job growth targets and to meet this challenge and to ensure that high quality, strategic regeneration initiatives are delivered we're looking for enthusiastic, committed and experienced individuals, qualified in town planning, to join our highly successful development management planning team.
"Suitable candidates will have responsibility for case-managing and determining a range of complex and major planning applications, providing pre-application planning advice and assisting with staff development and service improvements.
"If you have experience and knowledge relating to these matters, as well as a keen interest in high quality place making and securing sustainable development, we'd like to hear from you."
Fun fact: There must be something in the soil in the West Riding of Yorkshire - in the 20th century, the area produced two of the great Modernist sculptors, contemporaries and friendly rivals who both achieved considerable fame for their work. Henry Moore was born in Castleford in 1898; Barbara Hepworth in Wakefield itself, in 1903.
It's Hepworth we're interested in: not only was she a great sculptor who produced radical, groundbreaking work throughout her life, but she was a woman who forced her way into a very male-dominated discipline by sheer dint of talent and application. She did much of it, too, with support from a forward thinking local authorities that invested in the arts and talented students.
She studied initially at Leeds School of Art (where she met Moore); then won a county scholarship to the Royal College of Art in London. Following her studies, she travelled to Florence on a West Riding travel scholarship, where she learnt new techniques at the hands of masters and where she met her first husband, fellow sculptor John Skeaping.
She quickly became a leading light in Modernist sculpture and spent time at the studios of the likes of Picasso. But it wasn't until the Second World War that she really found her stride and her inspiration - the town of St Ives in Cornwall where she and a number of fellow artists set up home during the conflict and which became a significant focal point of artistic activity (and is now home to a branch of the Tate Gallery).
Hepworth stayed there until her death in 1975, sculpting in a variety of materials and creating a fabulous sculpture garden at her studio. Her works, characterised by large, sensual, amorphous forms which are often pierced, can also be seen in Harlow, in the plaza of the United Nations building in New York, at Winchester Cathedral and she's been the subject of a major retrospective at Tate Britain. She's even been honoured with a Google Doodle, in August 2020. And, in 2011, her home town opened the Hepworth Wakefield, an art museum which recognises her contribution to the city's reputation.
Image credits | Flyby Photography, Shutterstock; KK Kickin, Shutterstock; Anne Richard, Shutterstock; Derren, Shutterstock; Ron Ellis, Shutterstock
