The Friday Five 26.04.19
A round-up of five of the best, most interesting, significant or unusual jobs on Planner Jobs this week.
1. I SPEAK THEREFORE I AM (VIKING)
What?
Building conservation officer, Leicester City Council.
Where?
City Hall, Leicester, an imposing 1930s Art Deco building clad in Portland Stone and with a very stylish entrance, recently restored (there's also a nuclear bunker underneath, just in case).
The job
"We are looking to recruit a building conservation officer to work within the conservation team in the council’s planning service. The team provides advice and guidance on all aspects of the historic and natural environment and is pro-active in protecting and enhancing the city’s historic assets and heritage led regeneration. You will be part of a team of specialists in building conservation, archaeology, landscape architecture and ecology, with the potential to further develop your interdisciplinary skills and experience. Leicester City is at the forefront of developing proactive approaches to heritage management in England."
Leicester is the most populous city in the East Midlands, with a city population of around 348,000 (and a broader urban population exceeding half a million). One of England's oldest cities, it has a rich Roman, Medieval and modern industrial history, with buildings to match. Most famously, perhaps, its the burial place of Richard III - but it's also notable for being Britain's most ethnically diverse city.
Fun fact
Leicester is reputedly the birthplace of modern Standard English - a legacy of its being a city where, a thousand years ago, Vikings and Anglo-Saxons set aside their differences (cultural and linguistically) in order to live harmoniously together.
The claim was made in 2000 by the Plain English Campaign, and may or may not withstand scrutiny. However, it's generally accepted that the Viking influence on English includes the discarding of gendered nouns and multiple case endings on words because they simply weren't necessary to get a point across. In other words, in learning Old English/Anglo-Saxon language, Vikings simplified it, helping to lay the structural foundation for the language we speak today.
2. MOTORING ALONG
What?
Planning officer, Rother District Council, East Sussex.
Where?
The handsome late Victorian town hall in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex.
The job
"We are a small but ambitious and forward-thinking council who are looking to recruit a motivated planning officer to work in our strategy and planning service.
"With some experience in development management and/or planning policy work as well as the ability to negotiate, communicate and prepare good quality reports, the successful applicant will contribute primarily to providing an effective development management service. Working in both urban and rural situations the role will include taking responsibility for a range of planning applications with some related enforcement work."
Rother is a sizeable district in the south east corner of East Sussex covering a range of coastal and inland villages and three small towns: Bexhill-on-Sea, the Cinque Port of Rye and Battle, where the Battle of Hastings took place in 1066. Its population is small - just 95,000 - and one of the oldest in the UK (median age of 52), with the lowest per capita income.
Fun fact
In 1902, Bexhill-on-Sea hosted the first motor race in great Britain, along its seafront promenade (which had been built as a cycle track). the race was promoted by the 8th Earl de la Warr who owned much of the town and wanted to celebrate Bexhill's newly granted royal charter.
On 19 May 1902 the ‘Great Whitsuntide Motor Races’ saw cars racing along a one-kilometre 'bicycle boulevard' created by the Earl in 1896 at speeds of up to 54mph. The UK's statutory speed limit at that point was a mere 12mph - this being private land, the limit didn't apply.
The were won by French driver Leon Serpollet in his steam car Easter Egg. A replica can be seen in Bexhill Museum.
3. JOIN THE NEWCASTLE NETWORK
What?
Senior planning officer (enforcement), Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council.
Where?
Castle House, the council's swanky new offices in the centre of Newcastle-under-Lyme, a sizeable market town just outside Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire.
The job
"We are looking for a senior planning officer to lead on the planning enforcement work of the development management team within the planning service; to develop and implement enforcement policy and systems and to undertake the preparation of expediency reports on enforcement cases; make recommendations on principally but not solely retrospective applications; where appropriate determine retrospective planning applications; and to contribute to other corporate priorities undertaken within the directorate."
Newcastle-under-Lyme is a mid-sized borough within the Potteries urban area of Staffordshire. It includes the towns of Newcastle-under-Lyme and Kidsgrove, as well as the campus of Keele University.
Fun fact
Newcastle-under-Lyme is part of a worldwide network of towns and cities with the name Newcastle. These include Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa), Shinshiro (Japan), Neuchâtel (Switzerland) and New Castle, Indiana (USA).
4. BRAVE NEW WORLD
What?
Senior planning officers, Slough Borough Council.
Where?
"We are preparing for an unparalleled redevelopment in Slough over the next 10 years, with more than £2.5 billion worth of development and development opportunities. Our planning service is at the heart of all this activity and working in Slough could promise you challenges and opportunities for developing your career that most councils – even London Boroughs, would struggle to match.
"Our mission is to create a world-class quality environment that will stand the test of time, and we are looking for an energetic, skilled and creative planner to join the team."
The borough of Slough is centred on the large town of Slough (unsurprisingly), some 20 miles west of London at the strategically important intersection of the M4, M40 and M25, and close to Heathrow Airport. It's been a hub industry since at least the 1920s and experienced considerable industrial and new town growth throughout the 20th century. Slough now has the UK's highest concentration of global corporate HQs outside London, one of the most ethnically diverse populations in the UK unemployment of just one-third the UK average.
Fun fact
Slough is probably best known in the popular imagination for its depictions as a bland, soulless place - notably in John Betjeman's famous diatribe against new towns in which he invited "friendly bombs" to "fall on Slough"; and in the painfully awkward early 2000s sitcom The Office.
But but in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, the chimneys of Slough Crematorium took on a more metaphysical aspect, as a symbol of the physical and chemical equality of all human beings:
'All men are physically and chemically equal,' said Henry. 'Besides, even Epsilons perform valuable services.'
5. SUNNY SIDE UP
What?
Client-side senior town planner (renewables), London.
Where?
Somewhere in London (agency recruitment, so actual employer/location not specified).
The job
"A clean energy company is looking for a senior town planner to join their existing team focusing on the building of solar panel sites. Working alongside the wider development, strategy and project management teams you'll guide planning applications through the system to ensure the construction of renewable energy sites across the UK.
"As the company also works as developer acquiring the sites and building upon them, your ability to work within a multidisciplinary team will be critical for success. This is the ideal role for a qualified planner with good experience in the private sector (client side or consultancy), and who has a genuine interest in clean and renewable energy."
Fun fact
The modern solar panel has been some 180 years in the making, from the first observation of the photovoltaic effect in 1839 through to the experimental panels of today that in one case claims to convert 35 per cent of the energy in sunlight into electricity.
In 1999 total worldwide installed photovoltaic power reached 1,000 megawatts. In 2019 alone the additional capacity of new solar is expected to be around 130 gigawatts (of 130,000 megawatts). By 2020, solar power is expected to make up around 10 per cent of total global power generation.
