County council embarks on recruitment drive as economy grows

A west country local authority has recruited two senior planning officers and aims to recruit more to tackle rising workloads across all sectors, especially commercial and residential.

Jonathan James joined Wiltshire Council from Brecon Beacons National Park Authority and Georgina Wright comes back into planning after a career break.

Southern area development manager Andrew Guest told Planning: “We are very busy across the board and were fortunate enough to ride the economic downturn well.

“A lot of the current healthy activity is down to the improving economy. Wiltshire is a very desirable place to live in terms of its landscape, towns and villages.

“It also benefits from good connectivity from main roads and motorways north and south, which is an excellent boon for business and employment as well as residential and commercial.”

The senior planning officers would deal with applications and appeals for major and complex proposals and appear as expert witnesses at inquiries, said Guest.

He said Wiltshire Council was looking to recruit more planning staff in the near future to handle the increasing workloads. 

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