Principal Planning Officer
| Posting date: | 01 July 2025 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £43,693 to £47,754 per year |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 29 July 2025 |
| Location: | Lancaster, Lancashire |
| Remote working: | Hybrid - work remotely up to 1 day per week |
| Company: | Lancaster City Council |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 43_25 |
Summary
The Role
It is an exciting time to join Lancaster and develop your planning career in a diverse district with urban, rural and coastline communities.
As a Principal Planning Officer, you will play an important role in shaping the future of our district and helping to deliver our major development projects. This might include working on the new Eden Project adjacent to Morecambe Bay; or to deliver our emerging new vision for Lancaster’s historic Canal Quarter. You may be involved in proposals at Lancaster Castle, or for the new high-level employment hub at the Heysham Gateway.
The role would suit an experienced planner who is keen to hone their own skills in a supportive environment. You will join an established, dedicated and friendly team of planners who share our vision of:
A Sustainable District;
An Inclusive and Prosperous Local Economy;
Healthy and Happy Communities; and,
A Co-operative, Kind and Responsible Council.
We want to hear from talented candidates who are qualified town planners (RTPI membership or those who are eligible for/working towards joining the RTPI); who have a good working knowledge of planning legislation, and who have excellent communication and mentoring skills.
A full current UK driving licence is essential, as the post holder will occasionally be required to undertake site visits. The hours of work for this position are 37 hours per week, working Monday to Friday.
Flexible working friendly – we offer hybrid working, a generous flexi-time scheme, and opportunity to work with your team to establish working hours to enable you to maximise your work-life balance.
About You
You will identify with our organisational values of Pride, Ownership, Working Together and Ambition.
Our Benefits
Lancaster is a great place to work, as well as being part of something special you will also benefit from:
Generous annual leave allowance
Local Government Pension Scheme
A range of employee benefits including discounted gym membership, cycle to work scheme, the opportunity to purchase extra time off, as well as discounts on days out, activities and retail.
Lancaster City Council has unanimously declared a climate emergency and will therefore work towards reducing carbon emissions to net-zero by 2030. As part of this role, you will be expected to participate and work towards reducing both carbon emissions and the impacts of climate change.
We are an Investor in People, Forces Friendly employer, and an Armed Forces Covenant committed organisation. We welcome applications from defence reserves and other members of our armed forces community. We are an inclusive employer and welcome applications from all parts of our community.
At Lancaster City Council we aim to have a diverse workforce that is representative of the district that we serve, and provide a working environment where each employee feels able to bring their whole self to work. We welcome applications from all sections of our community and provide several supportive and inclusive workplace networks and safe spaces for employees to feel connected. Our workplace wellbeing strategy drives our commitment to staff wellbeing initiatives and ensuring that our organisation is a great place to work for all.
We are a disability confident committed employer.
Please note that due to the volume of applications we receive we are unable to update all applicants individually. If you do not receive a response from us within 2 weeks of the closing date then your application will have unfortunately been unsuccessful in progressing to interview.
Interview date: TBC
It is an exciting time to join Lancaster and develop your planning career in a diverse district with urban, rural and coastline communities.
As a Principal Planning Officer, you will play an important role in shaping the future of our district and helping to deliver our major development projects. This might include working on the new Eden Project adjacent to Morecambe Bay; or to deliver our emerging new vision for Lancaster’s historic Canal Quarter. You may be involved in proposals at Lancaster Castle, or for the new high-level employment hub at the Heysham Gateway.
The role would suit an experienced planner who is keen to hone their own skills in a supportive environment. You will join an established, dedicated and friendly team of planners who share our vision of:
A Sustainable District;
An Inclusive and Prosperous Local Economy;
Healthy and Happy Communities; and,
A Co-operative, Kind and Responsible Council.
We want to hear from talented candidates who are qualified town planners (RTPI membership or those who are eligible for/working towards joining the RTPI); who have a good working knowledge of planning legislation, and who have excellent communication and mentoring skills.
A full current UK driving licence is essential, as the post holder will occasionally be required to undertake site visits. The hours of work for this position are 37 hours per week, working Monday to Friday.
Flexible working friendly – we offer hybrid working, a generous flexi-time scheme, and opportunity to work with your team to establish working hours to enable you to maximise your work-life balance.
About You
You will identify with our organisational values of Pride, Ownership, Working Together and Ambition.
Our Benefits
Lancaster is a great place to work, as well as being part of something special you will also benefit from:
Generous annual leave allowance
Local Government Pension Scheme
A range of employee benefits including discounted gym membership, cycle to work scheme, the opportunity to purchase extra time off, as well as discounts on days out, activities and retail.
Lancaster City Council has unanimously declared a climate emergency and will therefore work towards reducing carbon emissions to net-zero by 2030. As part of this role, you will be expected to participate and work towards reducing both carbon emissions and the impacts of climate change.
We are an Investor in People, Forces Friendly employer, and an Armed Forces Covenant committed organisation. We welcome applications from defence reserves and other members of our armed forces community. We are an inclusive employer and welcome applications from all parts of our community.
At Lancaster City Council we aim to have a diverse workforce that is representative of the district that we serve, and provide a working environment where each employee feels able to bring their whole self to work. We welcome applications from all sections of our community and provide several supportive and inclusive workplace networks and safe spaces for employees to feel connected. Our workplace wellbeing strategy drives our commitment to staff wellbeing initiatives and ensuring that our organisation is a great place to work for all.
We are a disability confident committed employer.
Please note that due to the volume of applications we receive we are unable to update all applicants individually. If you do not receive a response from us within 2 weeks of the closing date then your application will have unfortunately been unsuccessful in progressing to interview.
Interview date: TBC
Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme
Disability Confident
About Disability Confident
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.