The Thursday Three 14.04.22
1. PRINCIPAL PLANNING POLICY OFFICER, SOUTH OXFORDSHIRE DISTRICT COUNCIL AND VALE OF WHITE HORSE DISTRICT COUNCIL
Location: Hybrid (Remote / Milton Park, Didcot until summer 2022)
The job: “We are looking for an ambitious planning policy officer excited about working on good place-making, zero carbon and nature recovery in an area of the country experiencing fast planned housing and jobs growth. You can expect to oversee, project manage and assist with topics or sections in the plan and evidence base, and work with our neighbouring authorities on cross-boundary issues. It’s an opportunity to help shape tomorrow and be part of a growing team.
Responsibilities will include:
• Oversee, project manage and assist in the production of documents making up the development plan
• Carry out research to support preparation of the local plan and other policy documents
• Write briefs, employ consultants and manage contracts for specialist work and projects
• Prepare draft sections of the local plan and supplementary planning documents
• Carry out consultations on the local plan and other planning policy documents
• Prepare and present evidence supporting the council’s case at the examinations, hearings and public inquiries
• Provide advice on and assistance to town and parish councils on neighbourhood plans ."
Fun fact: Didcot was the original home of the Williams Formula One racing team, which was founded as Williams Grand Prix Engineering by Frank Williams and automotive engineer Patrick Head in 1977. The team was initially based in what had been a carpet warehouse.
After establishing themselves in Forumla One, the team moved to a new factory, also within Didcot, on the Didcot A Power Station site. In 1995, it moved to its present home in Grove, a few miles away.
The team’s first race was the 1977 Spanish Grand Prix. It didn’t score a single point that year. The following year, 1978, Williams ran entirely self-built cars. In 1979, the Swiss driver Clay Regazzoni won Williams’s first race - the British Grand Prix. At the 1997 British Grand Prix, Jacques Villeneuve won the team’s 100th race.
Williams won its first driver’s title in 1980, with the Australian Alan Jones. It has won six more, but none since 1997. This was also the year the team won the last of its nine constructor’s championships.
Recent decades have been more fallow, though there are some hints of a revival. The team has been bought out and for the first time in its history no longer has a member of the Williams family at the helm. But there is a long way to go to return to former glories.
2. PLANNERS - ALL GRADES, AUSTRALIA
Location: Australia-wide (sponsorship paid for)
The job: Australian planning recruiter Planned Resources is looking for UK and Irish planners to work throughout the Australian planning system. The recruitment campaign reflects a wider campaign by the Planning Institute of Australia to attract planners to the country on behalf of their members who have jobs ready and are prepared to sponsor.
“By current predictions Australia’s population will rise from 25 million to 37 million over the next 30 years. This increased development pressure is creating a shortage of qualified planners and a once in a lifetime opportunity for planners looking to emigrate to Australia where they can help shape the face of Australia for future generations.
“Australia is a dichotomous environment for a planner. It’s one of the most urbanised countries in the world where close to 90 per cent of people live in urban areas, but also one of the most sparsely populated with only 3.4 persons per square kilometre. On a day-to-day basis Australian planners work on major regeneration schemes in the cities whilst invigorating and creating identities and economic security for regional townships. They work on major infrastructure projects whilst also ensuring the ongoing preservation of scarred trees and burial sites relating to one of the oldest cultures (First Nations) remaining in existence. They balance parking requirements whilst conserving the Growling Frog and considering bushfire risk. They look to help decarbonise the environment with clean energy whilst also looking for alternate employment townships.
“To express and interest in the program, initial inquiries should be directed to the consultants managing the project via Russell.locke@plannedresources.com.au”
Fun fact: Australia’s Indian Pacific passenger train service has the longest single stretch of straight railway track in the world - an impressive 478 kilometres of theTrans-Australian Railway across the Nullarbor Plain.
The service, first operated in 1970, is aimed primarily at tourists and runs between Sydney on the Pacific Coast and Perth, where Australia meets the Indian Ocean. The journey, which passes through Adelaide en route, takes around 65 hours.
The highest point on the line is at Bell, in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, at 1,100 metres altitude. A motorail service ferries passengers’ cars in conjunction with the passenger service itself.
In 1980, the Indian Pacific featured in an episode of BBC Television's Great Railway Journeys of the World series, presented by Michael Frayn. The Indian Pacific also featured in Great Australian Railway Journeys, presented by Michael Portillo, first broadcast in November 2019.
3. SENIOR COMPLIANCE AND ENFORCEMENT OFFICER, ASHFIELD DISTRICT COUNCIL
Location: Ashfield, Nottinghamshire
The job: “We are seeking a senior compliance and enforcement officer to work within the development management section to carry out a range of enforcement and monitoring duties.
“Your role will be to investigate breaches of planning control, including compliance with conditions and legal agreements and to serve legal notices and present evidence at court and appeals.
“You will have a sound knowledge of planning law and planning enforcement issues and will be a confident and self-motivated professional with excellent communication skills.
“You will be responsible for carrying out site inspections, providing planning advice to the public and writing reports in respect of breaches of planning control. You will also be a key player in delivering a proactive planning service in the district.”
Fun fact: Jeremiah Brandreth, from Sutton-in-Ashfield (the district’s largest town) was one of the Pentrich Martyrs, the last three people to be beheaded by an axe as part of execution in Britain. The three were executed for treason in 1817 for plotting to overthrow the government of the United Kingdom and were hung before their heads were cut off.
Born in 1785, Brandreth was a stocking maker who became involved in Luddite activities in 1811, in response to changes in working patterns and employment opportunities brought about by the advent of technology. He had been involved in a Luddite raid in that year in which one of the Luddites was shot dead.
It’s thought that Brandreth may have been caught up in the harsh treatment of Luddite protestors by the home secretary, Lord Sidmouth - hence, perhaps, his involvement by 1817 in a plot to join 50,000 men in London to storm the Tower of London and overthrow the government.
As it was, Brandreth’s contingent consisted of just a few dozen men, lightly armed with pikes, scythes and a few guns, who left from Petrich in Derbyshire and gradually slipped away when met with resistance and poor weather. They never got further than Nottingham and it was all a bit of a non-event. However, during the course of the ‘revolution’, Brandreth had shot and killed a servant while his band tried to recruit additional revolutionaries.
He was tried along with 34 others at the Old Bailey. Brandreth and two other men - William Turner and Isaac Ludlam - were sentenced to execution by being hung, drawn and quartered. This was commuted by the Prince Regent and on 7 November 1817, the three men were hung and their heads cut off with an axe outside Derby Gaol.
Writer and broadcaster Gyles Brandreth has claimed to be a descendant of Jeremiah Brandreth.
Photo credits | Alessio D eMarc, Shutterstock; Totajla, Shutterstock; iStock
