Starting salary: HC2 (£79,734 – £92,970)
Location: Alexandra House, 10 Station Road, Wood Green, London, N22 7TR
Hours per week: 36 hours, Full time
Contract type: Permanent
Closing date: Sunday, 18th August 2024, at 23:59

About Haringey

Haringey is a fantastic place to live and work – the world in one borough. A place brimming with creativity, personality, radicalism, and community. It is a place where we stand up for each other. A place that is proudly distinctive. We’ll be celebrating all this and more as the “rebel borough” when we are the 2027 London Borough of Culture.

Our history champions change-makers and everyday rebels; revelling in our differences, battling discrimination, championing equality, and doing things our own way. Haringey’s people are a huge asset, with knowledge, expertise, and passion. Our staff members embody our organisational values: Caring, Creative, Courageous, Collaborative and Community-focused. These values keep us looking forward, ambitious for the future, and continuously striving to do our very best for all of our residents.

About the Role

You will play a key role in shaping new development, building, and placemaking across Haringey. As the lead officer, you will make recommendations and decisions on all planning applications and enforcement matters, while also spearheading service development, digital innovation, and ensuring a positive customer experience.

Your responsibilities will include managing budgets and resources, maximising income through discretionary planning advice, and acting as an ambassador for Haringey to attract inward investment. You will ensure that development aligns with the borough’s placemaking priorities, such as environmental improvement, carbon emission reduction, and affordable housing delivery. This role is crucial in delivering the Council’s Corporate Delivery Plan.

About the Team

You will join a team recognised as the Local Authority Planning Team of the Year at the Planning Awards 2024 and the RTPI London Awards 2024 for its high performance and commitment to continuous improvement. A recent independent peer challenge highlighted the team’s “large amount of pride in working for the service” and noted our “dramatic journey of improvement over the last 10 years in delivering high-quality large development sites.”

Reporting directly to the Assistant Director of Planning, Building Standards & Sustainability, you will be part of a senior management team that includes heads of service for spatial planning, building control, and carbon management. As a member of the Leadership Network across the council, you will play a key corporate role in fostering collaboration across all council services. You will have five team managers reporting to you, covering east, west, strategic applications, enforcement, and innovation & income.

In this role, you will work closely with Councillors and lead the Planning Committee on major planning decisions, engaging with residents, businesses, and developers to ensure Haringey achieves its placemaking priorities.

About You

We are seeking an ambitious individual with strong leadership experience in development management and enforcement, coupled with deep and detailed knowledge of planning matters. The ideal candidate will hold a degree or equivalent qualification in planning and be eligible for membership of the Royal Town Planning Institute. Exceptional communication skills, the ability to lead negotiations on complex planning and operational issues, and strong problem-solving abilities are essential. Strong management and organisational skills are also required to lead a large service and ensure we remain a top-performing planning authority, driving timely and high-quality decisions.

Additionally, you should have a keen interest in delivering excellent planning, design, heritage, and climate outcomes for new homes, jobs, and social infrastructure in the borough.

Working For Haringey

At Haringey Council we are committed to creating a workplace culture where all our people feel valued, included, and able to be their best at work, and we recognise the benefits of a diverse workforce so welcome applications from all ethnicities and communities so that we continue to make a difference to our residents and community.  Our benefits package includes a leave entitlement of 30 days + bank holidays, potential hybrid working opportunities, health and wellbeing support, a generous local government pension scheme and a range of discount schemes across leisure and culture that provide both financial and money-saving discounts.