Want to take one of the fastest growing and most innovative of cities to new heights?

You’ve come to the right place. Milton Keynes might be one of the last new towns, but it’s fast on track to become the largest South East England city outside of London, and we need people to help get us there.

Following a restructure, our forward-thinking and commercially focused planning department is looking for dynamic, proactive and experienced people to join our team. With aims for Milton Keynes to double in size to 500,000, by 2050, now is an exciting time to join a department that will lead it all.

Milton Keynes is a dynamic new town, much more than just roundabouts and concrete cows. We’re in the heart of the Cam-MK-Ox growth arc, leading the way in testing autonomous vehicles and robot deliveries. We’ve got outstanding areas of natural beauty and extensive parklands, making us a vibrant place to study, live and work. We’re on track to deliver Plan:MK’s 31,000 new homes by 2031 and we’re working hard making a great city greater.

Senior Planning Officer (Development Management)

• Handling a varied workload, including complex large/major planning cases at all stages of the planning process, including appeals and delivering them by following the department’s working practices and our customer charter within agreed timescales and targets;
• Presenting own and other colleagues’ applications to Planning Committees;
• Taking on lead roles within the Development Management service – including in relation to Committee, appeal, Planning Performance Agreements, Pre-application, S106, working practices and Customer Charter areas of work;
• Mentoring and assisting with the management and supervision of more junior colleagues and their workload and performance;
• Engaging with internal and external stakeholders, ensuring planning policies and other issues are correctly interpreted and applied in the development management process;
• Creating and maintaining cooperative and influential working relationships with a variety of stakeholders;
• Promoting the development management department, its regulations and best practices internally and externally – sometimes confronting challenging opinions; and
• Developing, maintaining and imparting up-to-date planning and enforcement legislation best practice and knowledge, ensuring that the council is always compliant and leading the way.

Planning Officer (Development Management)

• Handling a wide range of development proposals, at all stages of the planning process, including appeals, delivering them by following the department’s working practices and our customer charter within agreed timescales and targets;
• Presenting applications to Committee;
• Engaging with internal and external stakeholders, ensuring planning policies and other issues are correctly interpreted and applied in the development management process;
• Attending and contributing expertise to meetings including at site inspections, town/parish council meetings, Committee and internal meetings (this may require work outside of regular hours and location);
• Creating and maintaining cooperative and influential working relationships with a variety of stakeholders;
• Promoting the development management department, its regulations and best practices internally and externally – sometimes confronting challenging opinions; and
• Developing, maintaining and imparting up-to-date planning and enforcement legislation best practice and knowledge, ensuring that the council is always compliant and leading the way.

Planning Officer (Development Plans / Policy)

• Make an active contribution to the review of the Local Plan (Plan:MK) to deliver the aspiration to double the size of Milton Keynes to 500,000 by 2050;
• Work with a range of stakeholders, including external consultants, in developing and maintaining a robust evidence base that will underpin the development of future planning policy for the Borough; and
• Contribute to and/or manage the production of supplementary planning policy documents;
• Provide expert planning policy advice to a wide range of internal and external stakeholders to ensure planning policies are correctly interpreted and implemented.

What we can offer

If working in the city of dreams wasn’t enough, Milton Keynes Council also offers:

• A competitive salary and a generous pension scheme
• 27 days’ annual leave, plus statutory holiday and the option to buy more
• A work iPad and iPhone
• Casual car user allowance
• Flexi-time and remote working

We recruit actively on values and behaviours and value proactivity, commercial mindedness and pushing the boundaries. If you can contribute to an iconic town’s growth, we may have a role for you.

Closing date for Senior Planning Officer & Planning Officer within the Development Management team is 25 March 2019.

Closing Date: for the Planning Officer based in Development Plans team is 1 April 2019.