About us

Hillingdon Council: Putting our Residents first.

Located in outer west London, the borough of Hillingdon has over 300,000 residents and covers an area of 44 square miles making it the second largest London borough. Hillingdon is a borough of contrasts, the area to the north of the A40 is semi-rural with the smaller centres of Northwood, Ruislip and Harefield, whereas the south of the borough is a dense urban area comprising the metropolitan town centre of Uxbridge as well as the district centres of Hayes and West Drayton which will soon benefit from the Elizabeth Line. Hillingdon has excellent transport links via the M4 and A40, the Metropolitan, Piccadilly, Central Lines and Heathrow Airport. This makes Hillingdon a key gateway for the UK and central London.

About the service 

This is a fantastic time to join the London Borough of Hillingdon, an exciting place to develop your career in town planning that offers a wide range of varied and engaging planning opportunities as part of an ambitious agenda for the future of the Planning Service.  We are looking for dedicated, dynamic, enthusiastic and passionate individuals to work across two new Area Planning Teams that are being created as part of an exciting transformation of our Planning Service.  We are at the heart of regeneration and change in West London and Hillingdon is planning for unprecedented growth and development with a strong emphasis on high quality and sustainable development.

About the role

As Planning Service Manager, you will be playing a vital role in the Council’s Planning Service and will represent the Council in supporting local priorities and planning aspirations at a strategic level.  This is an exciting opportunity for a highly capable and experienced planner. You will be leading on the transformation of our planning service as part of an ambitious agenda for the future provision of the Planning Service.   

As part of our plan for continued growth we are recruiting an experienced Planning Service Manager with strong leadership skills, to manage the development and performance of the Council’s planning function and to provide a clear vision and strategy, with a focus on continuous improvement.

We are focused on delivering an excellent service to our residents and community. This is an exciting opportunity for the right candidate to join our team.  

About you

This is a key leading role within the planning function, the successful candidate should have extensive experience of the end to end process of managing a Planning Service within a local government setting. Relevant Town and Country Planning or equivalent qualifications; membership of the RTPI or equivalent body are required. Experience of managing budgets, successful change management and partnership working is essential, along with extensive knowledge and understanding of the statutory functions of a local planning authority.

What we offer

We offer a range of Company benefits. These vary according to the business area and role but may include:

• local government average salary pension scheme
• free parking (4 days a week) if based at the Civic Centre
• a 36-hour week for all full-time staff
• generous holiday entitlement: a minimum 25 days a year (plus bank holidays), rising to 28 days after five years' service. For more senior positions holiday entitlements can rise to a maximum of 36 days
• career breaks
• flexible working hours
• season ticket loan
• access to a Credit Union
• on-site staff restaurant at Civic Centre
• access to a wide range of training and courses
• discount on a variety of Adult Education courses run by the Council
• payment of professional fees where these are required
• discounts at council-owned leisure centres and swimming pools at Hillingdon (Uxbridge), Queensmead (South Ruislip), Highgrove (Ruislip) and Botwell Green (Hayes)
• cycle purchase scheme
• car sharing scheme
• 30% discount on green fees at council-owned golf courses

Additional information

Applicants should be aware that the post will only be offered to successful candidates subject to satisfactory employment clearances.