The Friday Five 19.07.24
It's The Friday Five, our weekly round-up of the best town planning jobs currently advertised on Planner Jobs – plus a selection of fun, interesting and entertaining facts to keep you amused on a Friday afternoon. This week, opportunities in King's Lynn, north-west Leicestershire, Mansfield, Swindon and for the National Grid (which is everywhere). Plus...
1. PLANNER/GRADUATE PLANNER, BOROUGH OF KING'S LYNN AND WEST NORFOLK
Location: King's Lynn/Norfolk
The job: "As a graduate planner/planner, you'll help shape our borough’s future, balancing the new growth planned for the area with the preservation of the borough’s unique environment and heritage. You'll deal with a range of planning matters, including urban, rural, and coastal planning.
"We're a large borough with diverse landscapes ranging from the Norfolk Coast protected landscape, the Fens, Brecks and built-up areas. This gives you the opportunity to be involved with rural and urban planning matters including regeneration and coastal planning, as well as major developments in and around the main towns of King’s Lynn, Downham Market and Hunstanton. West Norfolk provides a beautiful environment in which to live and work with the council offices based in King’s Lynn, a medieval town and port with an outstanding conservation area.
"As a graduate planner, you'll be fully qualified (with an RTPI accredited degree) with some experience and be eligible for full membership if the RTPI. You will be eligible to progress through to planner, then senior planner.
"As a planner, you will hold a degree in town planning with at least two years' relevant work experience and be eligible for full membership of the RTPI. You will be eligible to progress through to senior planner."
Fun fact: King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and informally as just ‘Lynn’, is in West Norfolk. Named after the Celtic word for a lake or pool, the town was initially called ‘Lin’. A large tidal lake originally covered this area and water is intrinsic to the town’s history - indeed, during the 14th century, it ranked as the third most important port in England. It has a rich maritime heritage and today celebrates links with the Hanseatic League – a medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe – at the annual Hanse Festival.
It is also the birthplace of former sports pundit, DJ and TV host Alan Gordon Partridge, born on 2nd April 1955, son of former soldier Lionel Partridge, who fought with the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment in the Second World War. Except, of course, he’s just a character played by Manchester-born actor/writer Steve Coogan – Oh, but he feels so real. Since Alan’s debut in 1991 on BBC Radio 4’s On the Hour, he has popped up in several series, give or take the odd hiatus, on the BBC, Sky, and the big screen (Alpha Papa in 2013) until returning to BBC 1 in 2019 in The One Show spoof, This Time With Alan Partridge. A new series, And Did Those Feet… with Alan Partridge, with him setting off to Saudi Arabia in a documentary, is already in the can.
He might not be as venerated as real people from King's Lynn like Queen drummer Roger Taylor (born 26 July 1949), or Captain George Vancouver (1757-1798), who sailed with Captain Cook and charted the north-west coast of North America, or Mercedes-driving Formula 1 star George Russell (born 1998), but he was dubbed a national treasure by Vanity Fair magazine. He isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but that makes him all the more real to the British public. Back of the net!
2. SENIOR PLANNING OFFICER, NORTH WEST LEICESTERSHIRE DISTRICT COUNCIL
Location: Coalville/Hybrid
The job: "We're looking for an experienced senior planning officer to join us in our busy planning and development team. The successful candidate will have experience of dealing with complex and problematic planning applications, of giving detailed pre-application advice to customers, experience of planning appeals and of presenting and defending your recommendations to the planning committee.
"The district of North West Leicestershire is mainly rural in character with the southern part in the National Forest. However, it also has pressures from development in the main urban areas due to its location adjacent to the East Midlands airport and the strategic highways network.
"We're looking for someone with local authority planning experience, an effective team player with a recognised planning qualification (or sufficient demonstrable experience) and either a member of, working towards membership or eligible for membership of the Royal Town Planning Institute."
Fun fact: North-west Leicestershire’s towns are steeped in grimy, tough heritage but some boast a more playful past. As its name suggests, Coalville, the largest town in the area with a population of over 32,000, is a former mining town – but it hasn’t all been the pits. Railway pioneer Robert Stephenson built on the considerable achievements of his father, George the ‘father of railways’. His forward thinking enabled the significant expansion of railways during the ‘railway mania’ of the mid-19th century. He developed his Rocket steam engine in Coalville – the most advanced locomotive of its day – now on display at London’s Science Museum.
Coalville was also Action Man’s birthplace – at Palitoy Ltd of Coalville in 1966. The factory, founded in 1919, later made Star Wars figurines and Care Bears, however, in 1985, all manufacturing was moved overseas and in 1994 the site was closed.
And if you enjoy taking in the splendour of our late Middle Ages, visit the nearby ruins of Ashby de la Zouch Castle, built by William, Lord Hastings, a favourite of Edward IV, after 1473, in a 1,200ha park. The building became famous after it was featured in Sir Walter Scott's 1819 novel Ivanhoe, so its owner, Francis Rawdon, opened the ruins to visitors. Restoration work was carried out during the next century, but by 1932 the Rawdons could no longer afford to maintain it. The site is now managed by English Heritage.
3. PRINCIPAL PLANNING OFFICER (PART-TIME), MANSFIELD DISTRICT COUNCIL
Location: Mansfield, Nottinghamshire
The job: "Mansfield has a clear vision in our new corporate plan to be an ambitious, caring and confident district where everyone can prosper. We’ve had tens of millions of pounds earmarked for big local projects, and there’s a real determination to make our district a fantastic place for everyone. It's an exciting time to join our planning team as we'll be a key service in achieving this vision.
"We have an adopted local plan and are embarking on its review. In turn we're seeing our allocations coming forward along with a range of regeneration schemes which will help to revitalise the district.
"So we're seeking highly motivated individuals with previous planning experience. Above all, we're looking for people who are passionate about planning and who want to shape the future of Mansfield by enabling and facilitating high quality development. The roles would suit people looking for progression in the planning field, leading to more responsibility and career development. You'll need to be outward looking, have good communication skills and work well with colleagues and wider stakeholders."
Fun fact: The Parliament Oak stands in Sherwood Forest, near Warsop in Nottinghamshire. It is understood to have been the site for improvised parliamentary meetings held by both King John (1166 -1216) and Edward I (1239-1307), also known as ‘Edward Longshanks’ and the ‘Hammer of the Scots’. It was handy because it was about 2.4km from King John's palace at Clipstone, where after his 1199 accession he'd go hunting in Clipstone Park – one of the oldest parks in England.
It was not uncommon for parliaments to be held outdoors during this period. It was rumoured that John assembled a tree parliament in 1212 after hearing about revolts against his reign in Wales and Northern England. He apparently ordered that 28 Welsh lads held as hostages at Nottingham Castle should be put to death as payback. A story more likely to be true is that Edward I set up a meeting by the tree on Michaelmas (29 September) 1290, en route to Scotland – probably for a recce – his military invasion didn’t happen until In 1296, a campaign undertaken in retaliation to Scotland’s treaty with France.
By 1843 the tree stood on the Ollerton high road, on the edge of what remained of Sherwood Forest. It measured 7.6 metres in circumference and 1.2 metres high. It was then owned by William Bentinck, 4th Duke of Portland, who feared it was at risk of dying. He had a support framework erected to reinforce the tree against gales and planted acorns inside it. The tree is now on the edge of Clipstone Forest, off the A6075, under the care of the Sherwood Forest Trust, and was shortlisted for the 2017 Woodland Trust Tree of the Year Award.
4. PLANNING ENFORCEMENT LEAD OFFICER, SWINDON BOROUGH COUNCIL
Location: Swindon Borough Council
The job: "At Swindon we want our town to be the best it can be. Our ambitious vision in the new Swindon Plan is supported by realistic transformation programmes, with the people of Swindon at their heart. As a key member of the council’s planning team you'll have a direct impact on delivering the Swindon Plan through the planning process.
"As an enthusiastic planning enforcement lead officer you'll lead the team that plays an important part in all the planning enforcement functions of the council. You'll report directly to the borough’s chief planning officer and you'll be responsible for a small team dealing with a diverse range of priority planning enforcement cases in the borough.
"You'll manage a small team and bring your knowledge and experience of relevant legislation relating to planning enforcement to a local authority where you'll manage your own workload to meet targets, working both in the office and on site."
Fun fact: Picture the scene: Wealdstone FC are playing away at Swindon Town in the FA Cup First Round. Your correspondent is wearing snazzy chequered Vans plimsolls, because, a) he was achingly cool, and b) he was obviously way ahead of his time. “Nice daps!” exclaims the security guard as we enter the turnstiles. ‘Daps’? What the hell is a ‘dap’?
Turns out ‘dap’ is generic slang for the plimsoll style of shoe, and the security guard’s local accent certainly suggested the word was a West Country thing. One source has it that the Welsh word dwt is the equivalent of the Scottish term ‘wee’, used to describe anything small and cute, and that there’s a link to the word ‘dap’ there. A more plausible suggestion is that ‘daps’ is taken from a factory sign – ‘Dunlop Athletic Plimsoles’, or ‘the DAP factory’ – which was based in Bristol. Thus the word will have been used across the English south-west, spreading out eastwards whereupon it was used by Swindon’s security guards. Its use has since spread wider, for sure, with daps now used far and wide as an alternative for plimsoll. (Wealdstone lost 0-2, by the way. Sigh.)
5. PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIALIST, NATIONAL GRID
Location: UK-wide/Hybrid
The job: "The UK has set out its ambition to be net zero by 2050 and the energy industry is responding – together we're building a cleaner, greener Britain.
"We're continuing to build our consenting teams and are seeking an experienced planning and environmental specialist to work as a consents officer in our central consents team to help us obtain the permissions we need to build and upgrade the onshore electrical infrastructure that will make net zero a reality.
"Joining our growing team, you'll be responsible for ensuring that all the required planning and environmental consents are delivered in the most efficient and economic way possible and in accordance with current legislation, regulations, policy and National Grid’s internal best practice.
"As a consents officer, you'll deliver on our consenting strategies, coordinating environmental impact assessments and delivery of planning and environmental consents across a variety of new infrastructure projects onshore throughout England and Wales, both during the development and delivery phases of our projects.
"This includes supporting the connection of new generation through the development of new substations together with upgrades to and replacement of existing infrastructure. Every day you’ll be playing a crucial role in our ability to deliver a greener energy future.
"Our main HQ is in Warwick, but we also have offices in Leeds, Bristol and London, we have existing team members all over the UK as we continue to offer hybrid working from office and home."
Fun fact: Perhaps unexpectedly, National Grid’s work in creating and maintaining the transmission network that carries electricity through England and Wales has led to some rather spectacular archeological discoveries over the years. Sixth-century human skeletons in Dorset, for example; a Neolithic roadway from around 2300 BC in East Anglia; and even Roman remains in Hertfordshire. In the sea off Somerset, a complete Fairey Barracuda World War Two bomber was found during the company’s survey of the seabed for an undersea cable between the UK and France.
Otherwise, it’s the figures that amaze: National Grid runs 4,481 miles of overhead electricity lines, 1,417 miles of underground electricity cables and 4,760 miles of high-pressure gas pipes. Its website proudly note that the total length of all those lines, cables and pipes is more than 10,000 miles, or around the distance from London to Sydney.
Image credits | Shutterstock
