Planning Officer

Overview

As a Planning Officer at Buckinghamshire Council, you’ll not only be offered a competitive benefits package, you’ll also be part of a team working on a broad range of projects, committed to shaping the future of Buckinghamshire for generations to come.

Our Planning, Growth and Sustainability directorate works with partners to help shape the future of Buckinghamshire. We deliver services on planning, economic growth, regeneration, strategic infrastructure, transport and property.

Our key priorities include developing the economic narrative for Bucks, creating more jobs and delivering the right infrastructure to help businesses and residents thrive. We also aim to provide a proactive planning service that is responsive, whilst making the best use of the Council’s land and property portfolio. This will, in turn, support community services and create housing, jobs, regeneration and income to support public services.

12-month FTC/Secondment

About us

Buckinghamshire Council is a relatively new organisation that combines the strengths and expertise of the previous five councils in the county to create positive change for local people, communities, and businesses. We are firmly focused on the future and have made a clear commitment to serve residents better and to provide stronger representation for Buckinghamshire, both locally and nationally.  

About the role

We are seeking a Planning Officer to play a dual role in delivering high-quality planning services and contributing to the development and testing of innovative digital planning tools. This position is central to the nationally significant, MHCLG-funded Open Digital Planning (ODP) programme, with Buckinghamshire Council proudly serving as one of its three founding pioneer councils.

You will play a key role in the live testing and co-design of the ODP product stack—PlanX, Back-Office Planning System (BOPS), and the Digital Planning Register (DPR). Working closely with digital partners, consultants, and software developers, you will assess how these tools perform in real-world planning scenarios, ensuring they meet the needs of planning officers, applicants, and the wider community.

Working as part of a friendly team, you’ll manage a diverse caseload of planning applications and lead on providing high-quality service through all stages of the planning process, including pre-application and planning appeals. 

The role will offer a wide range of opportunities across both urban and rural environments in Buckinghamshire. A full driving licence and access to a vehicle are therefore essential to the role. This is a highly rewarding and fulfilling role - you’ll see the impact of your work in front of you.

Key responsibilities include:

• Acting as a subject matter expert in planning to support the development of digital tools.
• Participating in co-design workshops and user research with digital partners, consultants, and developers.
• Testing ODP products using real planning cases and workflows and providing structured feedback to improve usability and performance.
• Supporting the integration of ODP tools into existing planning workflows and systems.
• Helping shape a modern, user-centred planning service through the adoption of open-source, data-first technologies.
• Contributing to the council’s ambition to modernise the planning system through smarter use of data and emerging technologies.
• Collaborating across teams to support staff upskilling and digital capability building.

Any-Desk

As an ‘any-desk’ worker, you’ll need to be connected to our network to access digital folders and resources, but this can either be from home or an office location when required. You will be required to work from the office a couple of times a week, depending on your role and team requirements.

About you

Relevant experience within the development management, planning or environmental sector are essential in this Planning Officer role, and you should apply if:

• You have excellent communication skills and experience in dealing with complex customer queries. 
• You come to us with the relevant specialist experience within the service or a related area.
• You have a proven ability to manage a demanding workload
• You are people-focused and enjoy building new relationships, with the welfare of our residents at the heart of what you do.
• You are digitally confident and comfortable working with new systems and tools.
• You have a keen interest in digital innovation and are open to learning agile ways of working.
• You are able to provide clear, structured feedback to support the iterative development of digital products.
• You enjoy collaborative working and are confident participating in co-design workshops and user research.
• You are detail-oriented and capable of testing digital tools against real-world planning scenarios.

Candidates will also be considered with transferable skills so please detail them in your cover letter.

Other information

Buckinghamshire Council works in a hybrid manner, with this role offering a 40-60 split between office and homeworking. This role will be based in either High Wycombe or Aylesbury offices, to be agreed.

For an informal chat about this role in more detail, please contact Maya Szybicka on 01494 421049 or [email protected]

This post is covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare:

• All unspent cautions and/or unspent convictions

For further information on how long it takes for cautions and convictions cautions to become spent, please refer to our guide on the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (updated 2023) | Nacro

We reserve the right to close the vacancy once we have received sufficient applications, so please be advised to submit your application as early as possible.

Our values and culture

We have a set of values, which our employees have chosen, that represent what we are – Proud, Ambitious, Collaborative and Trustworthy.

By joining Buckinghamshire Council, you can expect:

• a fair and inclusive culture
• the chance to really make a difference to those around you
• health and well-being initiatives including an Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and mindfulness workshops
• a unified voice through our Employee Representative Group
• ongoing support, and the opportunity to develop and progress in your career with us
• opportunities to take part in fun activities such as fundraising and social events

At Buckinghamshire Council, we know that our biggest strength comes from the people that work for us, and that’s why we’re working hard to ensure we continue to be an accessible and inclusive organisation.

From dedicated staff networks overseen by our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group, to proudly standing as a Disability Confident employer, it’s important to us that all our colleagues feel engaged, listened to, and valued. Our offer of flexible working empowers a productive and happy workforce and allows employees to combine work with other responsibilities and commitments.

We believe our workforce should reflect the diverse communities we service in Buckinghamshire, and are looking for like-minded individuals to join us in promoting equality, fairness, and inclusion for everyone.

About the Business Unit

Our Planning, Growth and Sustainability directorate works with partners to help shape the future of Buckinghamshire.  We deliver services on planning, economic growth, regeneration, strategic infrastructure, transport and property.

 Our key priorities include developing the economic narrative for Bucks, creating more jobs and delivering the right infrastructure to help businesses and residents thrive. We also aim to provide a proactive planning service that is responsive, whilst making the best use of the Council’s land and property portfolio. This will in turn support community services and create housing, jobs, regeneration and income to support public services.

 It’s a great time to join one of our teams. As part of the Planning, Growth and Sustainability function you will not only get to help shape the economic future of Buckinghamshire; you’ll also be involved in delivering high-profile development projects and work on some of the biggest infrastructure projects in the UK. You will support us to deliver the results that our local residents and businesses deserve.

We recognise and reward you

Hard work and success deserves recognition. That’s why we pride ourselves on the benefits we give our people. We actively encourage a good work-life balance and promote flexible and agile working arrangements. We provide discounts on various Cafés, restaurants, shops and auto enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme. In addition to the opportunity to gain membership to Costco, we have discounted gym memberships, travel discounts with Arriva and much more.

https://jobs.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/working-buckinghamshire-council/