Come with us on this exciting journey to create a Planning Centre of Excellence at Fenland Council

Fenland Council is at the start of something big and you have the fantastic opportunity to come on this journey with us. We are currently advertising for a range of exciting roles within our Planning Team including Head of Planning, Local Plan Manager and Principal Planner as well as 8 other positions to lead the Council in to a new era of house building and business growth to improve quality of life across the whole District.

Our Members are keen to embrace a pro-growth agenda therefore we are looking for staff that can fulfil that vision. We want you to work with developers and partners to bring plans to fruition in a positive, proactive and customer focused way that will deliver jobs and homes for local people and those moving to the area to take advantage of our wonderful market towns, villages and wide open spaces.

All new staff will be arriving just at the right time. We are half way through the development of our Local Plan and need a forward looking team to embrace the Council’s pro-growth outlook and take our Local Plan through to examination. All team members have an opportunity to influence the direction of travel and imagine what the District will look like in 20 years time to ensure we have the homes, jobs, infrastructure, open spaces, and health services that local people and future generations deserve.

We have also just undertaken a Transformation Review of the Planning Team and received significant investment to upgrade our processes and systems to ensure staff have the right tools to do their jobs efficiently and effectively, whether you are in the office, at home or out on site. Transformation does not stop at the end of the review – we want your ideas on how we can improve working practices for staff and customers and there is investment waiting for new ideas to be implemented.

All of this is happening within our proud ‘One Team’ culture. You will be warmly welcomed to the team and the Council. Our close knit team has the support of the whole organisation. We have no departments creating division in the organisation, just a group of staff teams looking to support each other to achieve the priorities and objectives set out by Members. The care and camaraderie can be felt right across the organisation, even when we are now spread out at home and in the office. Everyone knows if they need help or guidance, it is only a call, Teams or stroll along the corridor away.

And this is why we believe we can build a Planning Centre of Excellence at Fenland and you could form a key piece in our jigsaw. We have a proud track record of growing of own. Sometimes from other teams within the Council, sometimes from within Planning itself. It is not an unusual story to hear how a Tech Team member is now a Senior Planner and how we have supported staff through apprenticeships and Masters degrees to achieve their own personal development which in turn delivers the Council’s priorities. Danielle, one of our Senior Planners, who joined the Council as a Junior Planner has just completed her degree course in MSc Town Planning and was shortlisted and won an RTPI Research Excellence Award at the UK-Ireland Planning Research Conference 2023. We couldn’t be more proud of Danielle’s achievements which have been suitably celebrated at Corporate Management Team and about every other meeting since!

We want to see all of our staff grow and we have a structure from Junior Planner to Senior Planner to Principal that sets out a career path all the way through to Development Manager and Head of Service. Have a look at our vacancies and see where you might fit.

Come and shape our Centre of Excellence and take Fenland forward. We have an attractive set of benefits on offer from pension to hybrid working, training and participation in corporate projects. Our salaries are very competitive and we have newly awarded a market supplement to make these even more attractive. For more details go to our micro site at https://fenland.gov.uk/planningjobs and  https://fenland.gov.uk/article/17589/Apply-for-planning-roles and start an exciting journey with us.