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What is it like to work at St Albans City & District Council?

Written by: Jennifer Jackson
Published on: 7 Jan 2019

St Albans Logo

We spoke to St Albans City & District Council for insider insight into the team culture and career opportunities on offer.

Cathedral

Tell us about St Albans City & District Council 

Here at St Albans City & District Council our approach is positive and entrepreneurial which makes our residents, visitors and businesses proud to live, work and visit our vibrant city, towns and villages. We take great pride in our place and in supporting the people that make up our thriving community. If you work for us, you too can make a real difference to people’s lives.

What makes St Albans a special place to work?

We are a unique English Cathedral City with a colourful history which can be seen in our Roman heritage, variety of beautiful architecture and conservation areas. 

There are fantastic Roman sites, green spaces, excellent rail and road transport links, a highly-qualified population and a well networked business community. We work hard to be at the forefront of new thinking locally, regionally and nationally.

There is a great range of restaurants, cafes and pubs, leisure and cultural facilities, including our award winning museum and gallery in the heart of the city. There is also a great range of parks and open spaces to be enjoyed throughout the district.

Why would someone want to work in your planning team?

We are one of the busiest district planning authorities in the country, dealing with over 3,500 planning applications each year. With a draft Local Plan identifying major development in the Green Belt, an Enviro-Tech Enterprise Zone and active plans to redevelop the city centre, it’s an exciting time to join us. We can offer great career opportunities to candidates who are looking to develop their expertise or gain more experience in planning in general. 

Find out more and apply

What is the team culture like?

Our planners spend time together socially outside work which helps strengthen our team spirit. We offer a range of flexible working options that allow our team to manage work and their family/social commitments. For example part-time, compressed hours, nine-day fortnight as well as partial home working.

St Albans hiking

St Albans City & District Council planning team on their annual hiking tour of the Lake District.

We offer a range of benefits to encourage and support our team’s health and wellbeing. This includes generous leave entitlement, employee assistance programme helpline offering advice and support as well as time off for volunteering. 

We have regular sessions on a range of topics such as mindfulness, health and wellbeing and also offer sports/leisure discounts.

What kind of people are you looking for?

We are looking for highly skilled, dynamic, customer focused and experienced planners to join our team. Individuals who want to be part of our strategy to develop St Albans whilst ensuring that the heritage of this beautiful cathedral city is preserved and enhanced.

We have a range of vacancies in both our spatial planning and development management teams. These range from planning officer to development manager. Applicants for the management roles should be chartered members of the RTPI, have previous management experience, project management abilities as well as the expertise to deal with strategic developments. 

St Albans team 2

What career development and other benefits do you offer?

We offer a range of training and development opportunities ranging from apprenticeships to RTPI qualifications, alongside bespoke training with partners we work closely with.

We also offer a competitive benefits package including flexitime or flexible working such as compressed hours, partial homeworking, generous annual leave, season ticket loan and discount, car allowance if applicable, reimbursement of professional fees as well as leisure and travel discounts.

For an informal discussion, call Linda Middleton, transformation manager, on 01727 819401 or Chris Briggs, spatial planning manager, on 01727 866100.
 
Click on the links below to find out more about current vacancies and apply:


Or visit St Albans City & District Council’s website here for a full list of current vacancies.

Apply now