The Friday Five 28.07.23
It's the Friday Five, our weekly round-up of five of the best town planning jobs on Planner Jobs. This week, opportunities in Grundon, Reading, Northampton, Maidenhead, North Devon and Telford and Wrekin.
1. Assistant Planning & Development Manager, Grundon Waste Management Ltd
Location: Beenham, near Reading
The job: “As Assistant Planning & Development Manager, you will identify development opportunities, assist with the delivery of planning consents, and manage early-stage development activities. You will also secure the necessary legal agreements and statutory consents.
“If you’re after a varied and challenging role, this is it! Helping secure the essential legal agreements and statutory consents (easements, wayleaves, highway agreements etc), by working with the different operational divisions within the business and external consultants to undertake and manage planning applications, EIAs, Appeals, Local Development Framework submissions and other land use regulatory activities in support of the business are all part of the job.”
Fun fact: The UK has a Wolf Conservation Trust, and it is based in Beenham.
The concept was realised by the late Roger Palmer, a passionate lover of animals who, having visited Alaska where he first encountered them, had kept wolves as a private individual for many years. He became ever more enthusiastic about dispelling the myths and misconceptions that surround the creatures, hence the trust.
Wikipedia records that the site is currently home to nine wolves, and we can even tell you their names: Nuka, Tala, Tundra, Mai, Motomoi, Torak, Massak, Pukak and Sikko. The wolves can be heard howling within a three-mile radius. Alas, access to the trust’s site for the public has recently been stopped but the wolves are taken for walks at weekends in the farmland around the trust, so if you’re particularly taken with these creatures then Beenham is the place for you.
2. Strategic planning officer, Bloor Homes
Location: Northampton
The job: “As Strategic Planning Manager, you will ensure the prompt delivery of outline planning permissions to meet the regional business targets and maintain, manage and monitor programmes showing the progress to deliver any scheme in the regional programme.”
Fun fact: Northampton’s football club, Northampton Town, is nicknamed ‘The Cobblers’ – and with shoemaking being a trade through which no less than a third of adult males were employed in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, you can see why. Local trades have informed many a local football club name (‘Hatters’ in Luton, ‘Blades’ in Sheffield, ‘Mariners’ in Grimsby, etc.)
But why ‘cobbler’? Apparently the term was ‘originally used pejoratively to indicate that someone did not know their craft’, and in the 18th century ‘cobbler’ became a term to describe those who repaired shoes but did not know enough about the things to actually go out and make a pair of them.
The word’s use to mean ‘you don’t know what you’re talking about’ has, of course, made it into the modern era, with the expression ‘talking cobblers’ rarely used as, for example, the title of a keynote address at shoemaking conventions.
3. Senior Planning Officer, Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead
Location: Maidenhead
The job: “The senior planning officer would deal with a wide range of applications, pre-application enquiries and appeals, focussing on minor and small scale major applications; providing advice and answering enquiries; dealing with planning appeals under both the written representation and hearing procedures; and presenting applications to Planning Committee. You may also be asked to help more senior officers with larger and more complex applications and condition discharges.”
Fun fact: Ample job opportunities in Maidenhead – it’s in the UK’s ‘Silicon Corridor’ of important employment areas like Slough, Reading and Swindon (also known as the M4 corridor – ‘The David Brent Passage’ is yet to catch on).
Footballer Andy King grew up in Maidenhead, and won the Premier League with Leicester City in 2015. The Friday Five has also conferred on King the honour of being one of the only footballers we can think to share a name with their team’s stadium (The King Power Stadium). Can you think of any more? Answers via email/LinkedIn comment. Bonus points if you can name any Maidenhead United FC players with a York Road-associated name.
NB: After a deluge of Jameses (Milner, Tavernier etc) who played at St James’ Park, first names will not be accepted.
4. North Devon Council is looking to fill a number of posts
Location: North Devon
The job: “You will play a vital role in shaping how we meet our growth objectives, ensuring that development is of the highest quality and is both sustainable and environmentally progressive, whilst looking after the exceptional and stunning environment of North Devon - its coastline, harbours, moors and historic urban and rural settlements centred on the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve of Braunton Burrows.
“Each role will provide rewarding opportunities to build experience and further your career. If you are a forward thinking, positive and customer focused Planner who can enable appropriate development in a high class environment we would like to hear from you.”
Fun fact: Devon, specifically near the village of Lympstone, is the home of A La Ronde, an 18th-century, 16-sided house. The grade I listed building is a National Trust property built by cousins Jane and Mary Parminter.
In 1784 Jane, who was the daughter of a wealthy Devon wine merchant, set off on a grand tour of Europe accompanied by her sister Elizabeth, orphaned cousin Mary, and Miss Colville, a friend from London. They explored France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and possibly Spain and Portugal, before returning to England. Elizabeth died soon after their return.
The cousins were inspired by their travels, and in particular by the sixth-century Byzantine basilica of San Vitale at Ravenna in Italy. They made plans to build themselves a rural retreat near Exmouth, and together Jane and Mary indulged their passion for design, creating the shell gallery and feather frieze, as well as other crafted items.
Jane died in 1811 and was buried in the chapel of Point in View, which the cousins had built on land adjoining A la Ronde. Mary continued to live at A la Ronde until her death in 1849, when she too was buried at Point in View. Mary's will had two principal aims: to preserve A la Ronde and its contents intact, and to allow only unmarried kinswomen to inherit.
5. Senior Planning Officer (Advisor), Telford & Wrekin Council
Location: Wellington Civic & Leisure Centre
The job: “To contribute to the preparation and progression of the Development Plan for the Borough including the preparation, implementation, monitoring and review of the Council’s Development Plans and the provision of planning advice associated policy planning functions.”
Fun fact: This job is based in Wellington, one of the constituent towns making up Telford. There’s plenty for a planner to get their teeth into here – Telford is a polycentric New Town, and is near the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Ironbridge Gorge UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Wellington itself was home to some members of pop legends T’Pau – lead singer Carol Decker grew up in the town.
“We set up our recording studio in the spare room of our flat. We had the top floor of the Pengwern Boat Club, which was up in the attic space, overlooking the River Severn. It's beautiful, one of the best places I've ever lived” roared Decker, when discussing her time living in nearby Shrewsbury.
Image credits | iStock and Shutterstock
