Salary: £24,003- £32,234 a year (dependent upon experience and qualifications)

Hours: Full time

Contract: Fixed Term 12 month (maternity cover)

Location:  Eastbourne & Lewes

Planning First is a newly established service bringing together staff at Eastbourne Borough and Lewes District Councils concerned with developments related to the local built environments. The inter-disciplinary team includes case workers, planners, policy experts and a small team interested in conservation, regeneration and design issues.

We want to further develop this team, and are currently looking for an experienced Specialist Advisor (Conservation) able to:

• deliver authoritative information, advice and guidance to householders, agents, architects and developers; and to other team members, council colleagues and councillors
• provide written conservation advice assessing the appropriateness of specific proposals for development in conservation areas and listed buildings submitted through applications for planning permission/ listed building consent
• generate information sheets and booklets and equivalent online content for broad-based public consumption addressing topics of interest from a heritage point of view
• support the work of the independent design review panels
• attend and support conservation areas advisory group meetings
• to represent Planning First in meetings with householders, developers, architects and other groups
• to provide training on conservation themes

The role is interesting and varied, and the successful post-holder will need:

• relevant experience delivering a comparable role in a local authority or commercial setting
• an appropriate qualification and/ or credentials, for example IHBC
• excellent written and communication skills, to include the proven ability to convey complex information to non-specialist audiences
• an ability to undertake conservation area assessments, audits and reviews; to support policy development and to make positive connections between conservation activity and broader regeneration and urban design agendas
• to be able to manage workloads and to work with a range of IT packages
• to able to represent the authorities, and act as an ambassador, in dealings with a wide range of external groups.

For further details about this role including details on how to apply, please click on apply on the website. 

The closing date for the receipt of applications is noon on 27 April 2021