Lead Project Officer (Grade 12) - Minerals & Waste

Salary: £37,568 - £43,570 

Location: Dorchester, with potential for significant home working

Protect it. Shape it. Enjoy it. Be part of Dorset

Dorset is a beautiful and iconic area, with historic market towns and miles of stunning coast. But it’s also a place of growth and innovation, with a population of 375,000 and an economy worth over £7 billion. To serve this unique area, a new unitary council was established in 2019. Bold and ambitious, with a One Team approach, we’re taking Dorset into the future – and our Planning team is taking centre stage. The Minerals and Waste team is a specialist team sitting within the wider planning team, dealing with a complex and fascinating range of issues.

We are looking for a Lead Project Officer to fulfil a key role within the Minerals and Waste Planning Team. 

With the Wytch Farm oilfield, Portland and Purbeck Stone quarries, sand and gravel and ball-clay extraction, Dorset has a rich and diverse geology, which throws up interesting issues. We also have a variety of waste management technologies and many environmentally sensitive areas. It all adds up to a wide variety of challenges for officers in our Minerals & Waste team.

Large-scale proposals, wide-ranging environmental implications: you’ll enjoy a complex caseload as you assess mineral and waste planning applications. You’ll also have a hand in the preparation of the policy framework for minerals and waste matters – a task that involves public consultation and extensive liaison with partners. The team’s expertise is highly valued across the Council and beyond, so expect to give a broad range of specialist advice and help neighbouring councils with applications and policy work too.

These are exciting opportunities enabling you to be involved in a varied and complex caseload covering the Dorset Council Area. As Lead Project Officer, at principal officer level within the team, you will take a lead on complex planning applications for minerals and waste developments. Lead officers also have an important role in advising and mentoring planning/senior planning officers in the team.

To join us, you’ll normally need to be a fully qualified planner and chartered member of the RTPI, though we will consider those who have significant knowledge and experience and are eligible for membership. You’ll have considerable experience in planning, preferably in the field of minerals and waste, and be confident dealing with complex applications, including negotiating any necessary planning obligations, presenting applications to committee and representing the Council at hearings and public inquiries. You will also need a gift for clear communication and affinity with our values: Responsibility, Respect, Recognition and Collaboration.

With a team that lives by these principles, we have a friendly workplace where you’ll be free to learn and thrive. Employee benefits are generous and include a local government pension, flexible working and continual learning and development. With beautiful beaches and countryside on your doorstep too, a Planning career in Dorset comes with everything you need.

This post has a significant travel requirement and you are contractually required to have a vehicle (or transport deemed to be suitable by the council) available for use as required. 

Contact details

For further information about the role, please contact Felicity Hart, Minerals & Waste Planning Manager, on 01305 224263 or email felicity.hart@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk     

Dorset Council: A great place to work

We’re passionate about making Dorset a great place to live, work and visit. Working for us should be no exception.

At Dorset Council we:

• provide more than 450 services to over 300,000 residents
• have ambitious aspirations
• are excited about our future
• care about Dorset and all the people who live here
• know that all roles make a difference and that our employees are key to our success

You will:

• have access to a range of employee benefits
• be part of an organisation that supports each other to grow and succeed
• have access to range of training opportunities which will help with your personal development and career progression

We are challenging ourselves to become a more diverse and inclusive organisation. We recognise that recruitment and inclusion of individuals with diverse skills, perspectives and backgrounds will bring real strength to the council and our communities. We have a commitment to equality and welcome applications from everyone.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. We offer an interview to everyone who declares a disability and meets the essential criteria for the role.

We are keen to make our interviews accessible. Let us know on your job application if you have a disability and need any reasonable adjustments.

We also look for applicants who share our commitment to our behaviours. We will ask you to evidence when you have demonstrated them as part of the selection process.

If appointed, the personal information we collect from you will be shared with Cifas who will use it to prevent fraud, other unlawful or dishonest conduct, malpractice, and other seriously improper conduct. If any of these are detected, you could be refused certain services or employment. Your personal information will also be used to verify your identity. Further details of how your information will be used by us and Cifas, and your data protection rights, can be found at https://www.cifas.org.uk/fpn.

This role is UK based and we will need to establish your Right to Work as part of the appointment process.

We use generic job descriptions and person specifications. This means the job title on any attachments may differ from the job title in the advert. We may provide specific information in a context statement if relevant.

We cannot accept CVs in the place of an application form as we need the same range of information from all our candidates.

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