Planning Jobs

[willowpattern88]

I’ve worked in property development for fifteen years and will soon start and MsC in Planning and Urban Leadership as a way to qualifying my experience. I’m curious to hear what its like to work in planning, in particular if it can be dull and mostly sorting out peoples extensions or if it is as varied as they claim it is? What are the odds of finding a part time job while my children are still home and rather dependent? Anyone have experience volunteering through the RTPI?

I don’t know what it’s like to work in Planning. I do know that there’s a real shortage of planners in my local authority (in the South West), and that councils are often able to offer part-time jobs and/or flexible hours.

I dont enjoy my job, planning officer, but I work 7.30-2.30 3 days a week and have to go into the office one day every 2 weeks. Other levels of flexibility are available. Whilst I don't earn a lot due to my hours the pay is good for those hours. I'm in a Council in the north.

Atm we are short staffed and our workloads are huge. Have been for a while, but it is varied.

Ohhh, that is interesting re shortages. @ItsJustASimpleLine what bit don’t you like?
I’m in an odd position of not needing to work for money, but want to for the mental stimulation and to keep my hand in so that when the children leave home within the next ten years, I don’t find myself scratching my head and bored out of my skull. But equally, don’t want to do something that I’ll hate or that impacts family life.

I've just stopped enjoying it. The workload pressures are quite bad and the public can be rude and agents but a lot of pressure on you. I've been doing it for years I just get on with it and can manage it but I just don't have the time to really focus on one thing at a time, I feel like it's all rushed and in the last year silly mistakes have been made, by me and others because there's too much to do. Every now and then I'll get really stuck into an application and thoroughly enjoy dealing with it but I used to enjoy all of them. I do think if I worked more days it would probably balance better even with a high workload but my kids are still young enough that I need my shorter days.

I will say I know people in other Councils who while also busy not at the levels we are. Also a lot of staff have left for the Planning Inspectorate recently and they're loving it so far. I can't do the travelling needed for the inspectorate as I need to be home for the kids as DH job is more demanding (we're a great team and I appreciate I can work part time because he works longer hours) but I would recommend the Inspectorate if it was something you would manage in the long term as much better workload and really good flexibility other then the travel.

Please don't be put off by my experience but be aware that Councils are desperate for staff but not always able to recruit due to budgets. Some areas are really stretched like mine so not enjoyable, others don't have such a high caseload. I would say it keeps your brain going! If you can get a job at a good Council you may love it!

What do you mean by planning, for the local council or for a company!. They would be very different. I'm not a planner but I work with a team of them a real estate consultancy. Their work is really interesting but also challenging when they take big projects to consultation involving in particular CPOs.

Thanks @ItsJustASimpleLine ! That is really interesting re the work and the Inspectorate, I hadn’t thought about them but will have a google.
re where to work, I am flexible if it’s council or private. I live five minutes walk from our local council office and 35ish minutes from a more diverse council whose plans are bigger and more interesting. Having worked for myself for years I am out of the loop of what working for someone else even looks like now so appreciate hearing about how employers are flexible.

I'm not a planner, but I work closely with many!

There are planning officers, who work for local authorities, in what used to be called Development Control, but now probably has a wordier name. These are the folk that get involved in extensions and other domestic planning applications, but also for bigger, commercial and industrial sites and will help decide stuff like - whether it should go ahead, compensatory habitat creation, working hours, wagon movements etc - from all the comments made to the application.

I also work with planning consultants who consider stuff like the aims of the Local Delivery Framework, flood risk, biodiversity net gain, sustainability, carbon reduction, environmental impact, drainage etc to develop a planning application.