About Us:

We’re transforming our borough for now and future generations. Join us at the forefront of change.

Kensington and Chelsea is a borough of extreme contrasts. We’re not just a place for the wealthy, we also have some of the most deprived wards in London. There are many challenges facing us in ensuring all our communities can flourish.

Our most urgent priority is meeting the challenging housing target we’ve set. To help us do this we’re leading on the use of digital engagement to reach a much wider audience, ensuring our communities are involved in everything we do. We’re levelling the playing field for all our residents and giving them a voice in our new, stronger growth agenda.

And we haven’t just changed our focus. We’ve changed our culture. At the heart of this is the new growth and delivery team we’ve built. We’re working in a dynamic new way. It’s no longer just about reactive, regulatory work. It’s about proactive early planning.

Bring plenty of initiative, an open mind and a positive, flexible approach and help drive the success of our challenging, future-shaping journey.

About the Department 

As a high-performing planning department we deal with a wide range of applications, making us one of the busiest planning authorities in the country. We’re a dynamic forward-thinking team with a can-do approach and are always striving to improve our service. We’re also proud of our learning and development commitment and take pride in growing our own to create a strong and resilient spatial planning team. 

The Role:

Playing a key role in developing and updating borough-wide policy, you’ll also be involved in implementing policies and guidance in practice. You’ll do this by planning and participating in specific projects such as the brownfield register and streetscape improvements. You’ll take projects and work streams through the milestones to external examination where necessary, ensuring seamless working across the Spatial Planning service.

Making site visits and recommendations on nominations for Assets of Community Value, you’ll advise and support considering or preparing neighbourhood plans. You’ll also facilitate community engagement events. And, as well as maintaining a broad, up-to-date knowledge of policy issues in the Borough and London, you’ll develop specialist knowledge according to business needs, and use this to prepare briefings for senior officers, managers and Councillors. 

For more information on the role, please see the Job Description

About You:

Putting communities first and working together with respect and integrity are our values, and we want people who share these to come and work with us.

With a Planning degree or equivalent, you’ll also need licentiate membership of the Royal Town Planning Institute (or equivalent), and evidence of relevant continuous professional development.

You’ll bring knowledge and ideally planning experience, some of which should have been gained in a planning policy environment. With this, you should have a working knowledge of current planning legislation and practice, especially in relation to local plans and neighbourhood planning. You’ll also need a methodical, thorough approach and the ability to construct concise reports that present clear and persuasive arguments

Ideally, you’ll also have a sound knowledge of London planning issues, and the ability to give both formal and informal presentations.

In return, you can look forward to a package that includes a competitive salary, a high-quality pension scheme and generous annual leave plus bank holidays.

We work in partnership with Hampshire County Council (HCC) who deliver many transactional services on our behalf. Although most communications will be from HCC, all selection and appointment decisions will be made by RBKC. Certain services are shared across more than one Council area to nearby neighbouring Authorities. This enhances delivery and reduces costs. Your recruitment information will advise if your remit extends beyond RBKC.

We will primarily contact candidates by e-mail throughout the recruitment process, please monitor your email junk / spam folder as our system generated emails may be allocated to these folders by your email settings.

We engage our staff with a variety of learning types including face-to-face and virtual learning because we want to ensure our staff understand our values and behaviours, grow their skills and develop their careers.

Additional information

RBKC is currently inclusively reviewing its pay, reward and benefits framework.

This post is covered by the Fluency Duty, as outlined in the Code of Practice on the English language requirements for public sector workers.

We are committed to promoting equality and respecting diversity and welcome applications from all sections of the community.

We are a Disability Confident Employer – committed to ensuring that our recruitment and selection process is inclusive and accessible.