Senior Town Planner

Job Description

LocationRoyal Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, B75 7RL : Catterick Garrison, Yorkshire and the Humber, DL9 3LR : Burford, South East, OX18 3LX : Huntingdon, Eastern, PE28 2EA : Corsham, South West, SN13 9GBAbout the jobSummaryJoin the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) and have a future that matters: Be proud; Be challenged; Be unique.DIO is passionate about ensuring that we are a top performing organisation and a great place to work. We host a diverse range of talent where everyone feels valued and supported enabling our people to flourish, bring greater creativity and innovation to achieve higher organisational performance. We are committed to being an equal opportunities employer and creating a culture where everyone can bring their whole self to work and individuality is truly appreciated. We promote and support a range of flexible working patterns enabling staff to balance home and work responsibilities. This culture of inclusion is underpinned by our 6 staff networks covering Disability, Faith and Belief, Gender Equality, LGBTQI+, Race, Social Mobility and 3 networks dealing with employee wellbeing and support: Speak Safe Volunteers, Mental Health First Aiders and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisers. Our staff, future and current will be guided by the 4 Cs and we encourage you to be curious and continuously strive for improvement, collaborative in an inclusive culture, bold and resilient and committed to Defence, empowered and able to challenge so you can play a key part in shaping the direction of our organisation. DIO commits to offer its employees the following experience: • Meaningful, purposeful work • The ability to learn and grow • The right opportunities and resources • To care about your wellbeing • To feel valued and included About DIOThe Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) is the estate expert for Defence, supporting the armed forces to enable military capability by planning, building, maintaining, and servicing infrastructure. Our responsibilities include: • Plan and deliver major capital projects and lifecycle refurbishment • Provide utilities services • Manage soft facilities management (i.e. cleaning and catering) • Provide a safe place to train • Allocate Service Families Accommodation • Procure and manage routine maintenance and reactive repair • Provide a central register of asset information to advise infrastructure planning • Act as steward of the Defence estate • Provide the unarmed guarding service We employ approximately 4,900 staff from a very diverse range of professions, and we work across the world; in Germany, Cyprus and the Falkland Islands, Norway, Poland, Kenya, Belize, Nepal and Oman. You can view our YouTube video to see more about our work Job descriptionThe ChallengeTo help achieve our objective of equipping Defence with a smaller, more efficient and better-quality estate we are seeking motivated and suitably qualified Senior Town Planner to join and lead established team within our Estates network. A customer focused and experienced Town Planner professional and team leader; you will deliver challenging and varied programmes, services across all customers. The post holder will be part of a team of Defence Subject Matter Experts (SME) for the full range of MOD Town Planning matters, providing robust written and verbal town planning advice, guidance and technical inputs to DIO Service Delivery, Projects, Land Management Services (LMS) staff and to military customers The post holders will be responsible for the application of best practice, knowledge and understanding of planning legislation both within the UK and overseas Desirable Experience: Representation of MOD interests in external town planning processes including Local Plans and appeals; assurance and negotiations in relation to developer contributions and legal agreements. Post Location There is 1 post that can be worked from any of the following locations: • Sutton Coldfield • Catterick • Corsham • Brize Norton Please state your location preference on your application. DIO adopt a smarter working policy: The post holder would be based out of the main office location but has the flexibility to work out of other DIO Offices. All employees are provided with IT equipment to facilitate smarter working.ResponsibilitiesMain ResponsibilitiesLeadership and Management within the Estates Division • Manage their resources/team in accordance with the DIO Values • Demonstrate a personal commitment to the DIO Values • Provide leadership for the team/section and /or function • Develop team members and assist Line Managers in delivering Departmental goals • Ensure compliance with mandatory and professional training requirements • Promote collaborative working practices with team and all stakeholders Programme Management • Provision of strategic advice and technical inputs to major projects and programmes, including site disposals operational development and land use planning strategies. • Advising MOD on the potential planning impacts of external third party proposals. • Commissioning, managing and assessing the quality of technical proposals and outputs from external consultants. • The management, development and submission of planning applications on behalf of MOD. • Representation of MOD interests in external town planning processes including Local Plans and appeals; assurance and negotiations in relation to developer contributions and legal agreements. • Influencing and developing town planning policy. SME Support to DIO • SME support and input to elements of: Freedom of Information Requests, Environmental Information Requests, Media and Comms briefs, Lines to Take and Ministerial Briefs concerning Town Planning and related matters. • Liaison with MOD client organisations and the management of external stakeholder relations including regulatory authorities and Other Government Departments (OGDs). Stakeholder Engagement • Working with with other directorate staff build relationships with Customers, local government and other regional and national stakeholders. • Ability to influence both within the DIO and the wider groups Admin & Other Duties • Contribute to improving data management and the recording and managing of risk. Travel Requirements Post holders will be required