Principal and Senior Planner

Are you looking to take a step up in your planning career? Or perhaps you are seeking fresh challenges in a new location? Dover District Council is looking for a motivated senior and principal planner to join our friendly team to help us deliver our exciting agenda.

Dover is investing over £63 million to deliver new investment in the town and with its stunning seaside location, world-famous coastline, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and world-famous Heritage, Dover District has lots to offer. We have an ambitious agenda to deliver first class public services, putting our residents at the heart of everything we do - and you could play a vital role in this.

A career with Dover District Council offers you the opportunity to excel. As an employer, we are proud to provide a supportive, friendly, diverse and flexible working environment in which our employees can thrive. We have a team of enthusiastic employees, delivering services they are passionate about.

Dover's Planning and Development Service has a successful record of driving high-quality place-making, which is strongly supported by its elected members and is an essential component in the delivery of successful development and growth.

The Role & Responsibilities

Dover District Council is currently seeking driven and motivated planners who are passionate about enabling positive development to work within the fast-paced Development Management Team on a range of development proposals.

If you are an experienced planner who is confident in successfully leading projects through the application process through to delivery, comfortable making difficult decisions and having tricky conversations with excellent communication skills, our principal role may be for you.

Alternatively, you may be looking to expand your horizons following your first role in planning and wanting to take a step up the ladder in starting to work on larger schemes, in which case our senior role may suit you.

Working on a range of planning applications, pre-application enquiries and appeals, you will have a solid understanding of the role of planning and embrace principles of good design in creating well connected and sustainable communities. You will have a good grasp of the importance of developer contributions in delivering strategic infrastructure and the implementation of planning policy.

Who We Are Looking For

If you want to help shape the future living and working environment for the better, and you are seeking a role that presents challenge, unpredictability and daily diversity, this could be the perfect move. These positions offer a fantastic opportunity for building your experience and progressing a career in planning.

We are looking for planners who can work flexibly on a wide range of planning matters. You will be confident in effectively managing your caseload and will be adept at using your place-making skills in different contexts. The ability to build positive relationships and work collaboratively will be really important - you will be regularly working with a variety of internal and external customers and you will work on your own cases and present them at Planning Committees.

The role will be based at the Dover District Council Offices at Whitfield in Kent. We currently operate a hybrid working model, where your working time will be divided between the office and remote working.

A full driving licence and access to a vehicle is required for this role.

What Can We Offer?

We can provide a friendly and supportive environment for you to excel in. We also offer several employee benefits, such as

Opt-in Local government pension scheme with the opportunity to make advanced, voluntary contributions (AVCs) to top up their pension
Generous annual leave provision
Discount scheme including reduced membership rates at the local leisure centre
On-site parking
Cycle2Work scheme
Generous Salary Sacrifice Car Scheme

What Next?