The Friday Five 23.08.2019
A round-up of the best, most interesting and unusual jobs on Planner Jobs this week.
1. KÄREERØPPØRTUNIITI
What?
Senior planning officer - majors
Where?
Warrington Borough Council’s imposing New Town House on Buttermarket Street, Warrington.
The job?
Warrington is regularly ranked as one of the best places in the UK for economic performance and quality of life for its residents. The council has an ambitious growth and regeneration programme.. its distinctiveness is also largely driven by its unique pattern of green spaces – a legacy of the new town and its green belt setting. This open space forms a framework on which the Warrington Means Business development programme will hang.
“An exciting opportunity has arisen to join our major development team and help us deliver our ambitious plans for growth by utilising your skills and experience to support and enable development opportunities.
“This is an excellent opportunity for your own personal and career development, and a chance to work on a range of exciting and strategic projects.
“We have a range of other roles available including planning officers mainstream applications team and graduate / assistant planning officers mainstream application team.
Fascinating fact
Here’s a fascinating flat-pack fact: Warrington (which was designated a new town under the New Towns Act 1946) is where the first ever branch of Swedish homewares superstore Ikea was opened, and it wasn’t as long ago as you might think: 1987. The company has been creating sub-optimal pedestrian user experiences ever since. (I mean come on: I want to see the bed linen and pine magazine racks on *my* terms and when *I* need them, not because you force me to walk past them. I only came in for a desk lamp.)
2. YOUR TRUE PORPOISE IN LIFE
What?
Town planning consultant, GH Johnston Building Consultants
Where?
GH Johnston Building Consultants’ Inverness office is based in a well-lit two storey building in the city’s Stoneyfield Business Park.
The job?
“We are a leading firm of planning and architectural consultants operating throughout Scotland. Our modern office is in Inverness, the growing capital city of the Highlands, which is a great place to live and provides easy access to the surrounding high quality environment.
“We are seeking a qualified town planner with at least five years’ experience to become part of our planning team involved in development management, master planning, promoting development plan allocations for landowners and developers and negotiating developer interests with planning authorities and their statutory consultees.
“Our core planning business involves the preparation of planning applications and appeals, local development plan representations, policy and site appraisals and supporting information, often in collaboration with architects, engineers, environmental specialists and other professionals. Full membership of the RTPI is essential.”
Fascinating fact
Dolphins your thing? This could be the job for you. The Moray Firth, just north of Inverness itself, is home to a pod of 130 bottlenose dolphins. The bottlenose breed is one of the fattest in the dolphin world, and you'll see them jumping to catch salmon on a fairly routine basis. It's an area renowned for these and other dolphins, as well as other breeds of porpoise - not to mention humpbacked whales.
3. RHUBARB RHUBARB RHUBARB
What?
Project officer / project leader, Wakefield Borough Council
Where?
The council is housed in a striking contemporary five-storey building in Burton Street.
The job?
“We are looking for an enthusiastic, committed and experienced individual to join our highly successful planning team. There will be opportunities to lead and support a wide range of development plan work, including new local plans; as well as green infrastructure; planning policy advice; environmental policies and technical assessments.”
Fascinating fact
Do you enjoy fruit-like vegetables? Then this could be the destination for you. Wakefield is at the centre of the UK’s only ‘Rhubarb Triangle’, which also takes in the Yorkshire towns of Morley and Rothwell. There’s even a rhubarb festival every February. It’s not immediately clear why Yorkshire is so big on the pink-stemmed herbaceous perennial, but everyone’s favourite member of the Polygonaceae family, which originated in Siberia, apparently thrives in Yorkshire’s wet and cold winters. (It’s not all about stringy pie filler either; rhubarb root is used for medicine, particularly for digestive complaints.)
4. FROM ROADS TO RICHES?
What?
Planning and housing officer, West of England Combined Authority (WECA)
Where?
You’ll be based in modern offices just a stone’s throw away from Bristol Temple Meads station.
The job?
“Working to the housing and planning team manager and guidance of other programme leads within the team on specific work areas,
“You will provide instrumental support to the WECA strategic planning activities. Working with the unitary authorities and LEP on joint planning work, you will also be contributing to the formulation, implementation, monitoring and review of strategic planning policies.
“You will have responsibility for supporting the housing and planning team and relevant partners in developing the agenda and reports related to strategic planning, housing and the environment for the joint committee, planning and housing board, and for undertaking or commissioning projects and initiatives identified in the work programmes of these groups.”
Fascinating fact
This is going to blow your motoring mind: The county of Devon has more road than any other county in the country. Devon County Council is responsible for 8,000 miles of the stuff, from motorways to A roads, B roads and single tracks. Does this mean Devon is a road user’s utopia? Er, no. According to travel information providers Inrix, some places in the county are the slowest to travel through too; Inrix names Exeter as the slowest city to travel through in all of England.
5. ONE TO FLOAT YOUR BOAT?
What?
Area planner, Canal & River Trust
Where?
Hatton (Warwickshire) or central Birmingham
The job?
“We’re the charity who look after and bring to life 2,000 miles of canals and rivers. As part of our spatial planning team, you’ll manage a diverse, high-volume workload across the West Midlands area. You’ll handle both planning consultations and planning policy matters, working closely with local planning authorities, and communities as well as Trust specialists.
“Consultations could range from EIA-scale development to ‘minor’ and ‘householder’, and it will be down to you to provide advice, negotiate planning conditions and planning obligations and represent us in any appeal. Your policy responsibilities will mean responding to consultations on a variety of policy documents to support the work of the Trust.”
Fascinating fact
Canals were once the industrial arteries of the country, and these days their value as part of the logistics network is again on the up. And their use for recreational purposes. That said, plenty of people have shown little respect to these architectural masterpieces. Things found submerged in canals being restored include: cars (including a Mercedes A-Class car), motorbikes, fax machines, hand grenades and, of course, any number of bicycles.