Principal/Associate Planner

Salary: Negotiable dependent on experience + performance bonus

Employer Summary

ET Planning predominantly works throughout the Thames Valley and West London, helping our clients navigate a diverse and complex range of planning casework. We utilise technology to run a paperless office and offer very flexible working arrangements.

About the Role

Day to day you will be managing client relationships over the phone, by email and in face to face meetings. Typical tasks will also include preparing fee quotes, project managing the preparation and submission of planning applications, pre-apps, appeals and local plan consultation comments. You will also be writing professional planning appraisals of sites, writing professional reports as well as peer reviewing and checking the work of other members of the team. The role will include dealing with Local Planning Authorities after the submission of applications and pre-applications to lobby and negotiate positive outcomes. The post holder will be expected to act as a professional witness an appeal Hearings and Inquiries, as well as attending court proceedings and tribunals to represent clients when necessary. The role will also include other reasonable responsibilities as specified from time to time by the Directors.

The role is client facing, and you should therefore be prepared to attend client meetings away from the office. You will have a driving license and a car available to use (and insured) for work purposes.

We offer a modern management style which includes mentorship from the Company Directors; as well a strong encouragement to progress and develop both professionally, and within the company. This is a fantastic time to join a fast growing planning consultancy at an early stage, offering unparalleled opportunity for you to progress you career in a dynamic and forward thinking planning practice.

There will be opportunities to present training events, and undertake public speaking engagements as part of the marketing and brand awareness activities of the company.

About You

You will be (or at least eligible* to be) a Corporate member of the RTPI, with a minimum of 5 years work experience as a planning professional. Ideally, you will have work experience across Local Government and some Consultancy/Client side (though quality candidates with only Local Government experience are still encouraged to apply).

Your professional experience will mean that you have your own professional opinion, which you will have the confidence to voice and defend. You will also have the professional confidence to know when to accept defeat without holding a grudge. You have experience of and enjoy working on cases covering unconventional and complex issues in town planning, and your personal choice of CPD will typically (or you will be prepared to) prioritise Caselaw updates.

You will be used to working to and take pride in consistently meeting deadlines, even when managing demanding workloads. You will be an effective communicator, being confident, professional, clear, and concise when using the phone and in emails, and you will write professional reports to a high standard.

You have a problem solver mentality, pro-actively seeking and negotiating solutions to overcome barriers and problems in order to deliver successful results. Acting as project manager for complex projects, cases or applications, with multiple stakeholders is something you have direct experience of, and you are competent delivering. You will already be used to checking and signing off the professional work of others. This can include the checking and signing off work of junior staff/team members, or might incorporate peer review. You will be looking for an opportunity to build on your experience in this area.

Although able and effective at working alone, you will care about the team around you and pitch in as a team player when you recognise the need. You will have the emotional intelligence to recognise our clients are real people that are asking for specialist help with often complex and difficult issues. This empathy will also extend to your understanding that the Council Officers you’re dealing with are real people, facing an unprecedented and challenging work environment.

Although not all necessary, any substantive experience of: Housing Land Supply; EIA; Appeal Hearings; Public Inquiries; Sequential Testing; Retail Planning; and/or Enforcement, would be very beneficial and should be clearly identified.

The personal statement accompanying your application should cover in a clear and concise way, how you meet the above person specifications, and where criteria are not fully met you should provide an explanation of how the criteria is partially met and/or how through personal and professional development you plan to quickly progress to meet the criteria.

* MRTPI; About to complete a Licentiate or Associate APC; or eligible for full membership through the Experienced Practitioner EP-APC route to the RTPI’s MRTPI accreditation.

About ET Planning

Founded in 2017, ET Planning is a small, but quickly growing town planning consultancy that is doing things differently. Following a fantastically successful first year, we've seen significant year on year growth and look set to continue this trend. Currently at four full time staff, we will be five in number by the end of September 2019, and we are actively recruiting for more like-minded professionals to permanently join the team.

Our clients are individual land owners, small businesses, small and regional developers, private investors, as well as Local Planning Authorities regarding specialist topics. We also work closely with and support a number of high quality architectural practices by providing expert planning advice and negotiation skills in support of their schemes.

Operating out of our newly refurbished Headquarters in Crowthorne, Berkshire, we make the most of technology to advance our efforts towards maintaining a paper free office. As well as saving on unnecessary waste, being paper free means that we're able to offer excellent flexible working opportunities at the same time as enabling close collaboration when working remotely. We also look for opportunities to improve the working model of planning consulting, and we aren't afraid to innovate and disrupt what can at times, be a stayed and stale profession.

As a team of talented professionals, we give honest advice and partner with and support real people, to achieve real results in their property and development ambitions.  Our diverse range of projects predominantly spans the Thames Valley reaching into West and Central London, though we can and do cover much of the South East region as well as National projects. We provide consultancy advice to private clients and Local Authorities on: Preparation and submission of residential and commercial planning applications; Local Plan representations and site promotion; Enforcement matters (specialism); and, Community Infrastructure Levy appeals among other services.

Additional Information

Generous basic pay with achievable/graduated performance bonuses. You are not expected to bring a client base with you, as we have an existing healthy and growing client base. Not bringing clients is unlikely to limit your ability to earn bonuses. Any clients that you are able to bring, would be beneficial and is worthwhile mentioning in your application.

We are expecting to continue our recruitment process to other professional roles at various levels in the near future. If you think you are a good fit for the company, but not quite a match for the currently advertised role, you are welcome to submit your CV and personal statement. Please make clear if you are not applying for this advertised role, and put FUTURE as the job reference. We will review submitted CVs and add appropriate candidates to a mailing list to be notified of future job adverts.

If you have any questions regarding the role before submitting an application, please do not hesitate to contact us, asking for Ben Temple (Director) on 01344 508048, or email ben@etplanning.co.uk.