Planning Technician - Strategic Sites

• This role offers hybrid working, allowing you to work either from home or from one of our offices.
• 28 days’ annual leave, plus bank holidays.
• Take on a supporting, front facing role within our planning service.
• Permanent Role

Here at Somerset Council our Planning Technicians are the front face of the Planning service, supporting Planning and Enforcement Officers and the wider service. This role will support the day to day operations of the Enforcement Team within the South area of Somerset in reviewing and setting up cases, corresponding to complainants and landowners on suspected breaches and reviewing cases under the supervision of the Enforcement Officers.

Your day-to-day work will involve:

• Validating and registering planning applications on our electronic database, including plotting sites on our GIS software.
• Reading/redacting and recording planning comments, ensuring compliance with GDPR.
• Responding to enquiries from members of the public and stakeholders in writing, on the telephone or in person across a range of planning matters – including planning permission in accordance with legislation and general advice on the planning process.
• Providing support for the enforcement /compliance teams.
• Handling a small caseload of Fast Track applications.
• Undertaking general technical duties to support the service.

We offer ongoing supporting, training and guidance to help you be the best you can be. But it will really help if you:

• Have good IT Skills, with knowledge of Microsoft Office Tools.
• Have experience of using Databases.
• Have experience working within a team, maintaining a range of workloads, including the ability to prioritise own workload and working to deadlines.
• Are well organised, with attention to detail.
• Have excellent communication skills.
• Some knowledge of the planning system.
• Have 5 GCSES (or equivalent) at grade C/4 or above, including English and Maths.

We’re proud to be here for the people of Somerset. And that means everyone in Somerset. An important part of this is ensuring that we are as diverse and inclusive as the people and communities we serve.

We welcome applications from a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences to enrich our team. You can always contact the hiring manager for a chat if there’s anything you want to talk about before you apply.

We are proud to offer an environment that is supportive and rewarding, working as part of a team who are passionate about the work they do to improve the lives of people in Somerset.

We offer great training and development opportunities, with supportive management. As well as this, we have some fantastic employee benefits available:

• We promote a healthy work-life balance and offer flexible working arrangements wherever possible, including working from home.
• Generous annual leave allowance, with the opportunity to purchase additional leave
• Staff discounts in gyms.
• Employee Assistance for the times you may need some support and a variety of employee wellbeing services.
• Auto enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme and optional pension enhancement through our Additional Voluntary Contribution scheme.
• A Flexible Benefits Scheme via salary sacrifice to obtain a cycle for work and health screenings.
• My Staff Shop offering discounts in shops, online shopping, restaurants, cinema tickets, insurance benefits and more

The Salary for the Planning Officer role is Grade 12, £27,711 to £31,067 per annum.  

For an informal chat about the role, you can contact Dawn de Vries - dawn.devries@somerset.gov.uk or Helen Vittery - helen.vittery@somerset.gov.uk

When completing your application/ CV please provide your full employment history and ensure that any gaps in employment are explained. Please start with your current or most recent employment.

If you have everything you need, just hit the apply button. We can’t wait to hear from you.