Education Capital and Place Planning Officer in Wellingborough

Purpose of the job: To ensure the Councils meet their statutory duty to secure sufficient education provision across North Northamptonshire.

Responsibilities include:

• Planning and reviewing demand across the area.
• Contributing to the commissioning and establishing of new places in consultation with other statutory bodies.
• Contributing to the development and ongoing review of policies and procedures in respect of the planning and commissioning of 0-25 educational provision in line with established and changing national policies.
• Facilitating the conversion process whereby maintained schools become academies, operating independently from the County Council.
• Supporting the council’s delivery of its statutory duty to provide sufficient school places by identifying need and determining how school places should be provided through the delivery of new capital projects.
• Supporting the improvement of the maintained schools estate, particularly in its decarbonisation and adoption of the DfE’s Good Estate Management System (GEMS) for effective use of devolved maintenance funding.
• Leading and coordinating the delivery of an effective project management service team, including professional service consultants and contractors.
• Ensuring that specification, quality, deadline and budget targets and any other relevant requirements are met for school capital projects.

Principal responsibilities:

• Processing funding agreements for education capital projects with the legal team.
• Providing project manager support for new projects and new school builds.
• Preparing briefing notes as required on capital schemes for our strategic capital board and members.
• Preparing executive reports for new capital schemes for the executive as needed.
• Undertaking a statutory school place planning role for the council, including regular liaison and partnership working with the Council’s Admissions Team, headteachers, planning and regeneration officers, developers and contractors.
• Monitoring the Council’s planning process and identifying schemes where section 106 contributions are required.
• Ensuring a robust negotiating position is prepared using forecast data and robust costings of the physical education infrastructure required.
• Being responsible for specific school capital projects within the capital programme, ensuring they are delivered within key performance criteria relating to time, cost, value for money and sustainability.
• Managing project-specific risks and issues, ensuring these are recorded accurately and reviewed and resolved in a timely manner.
• Meeting deadlines for corporate project reporting on a monthly basis and specifically for the service Strategic Highlight Report and the Children’s Capital Programme Board.
• Managing external project consultants, including monitoring their contractual progress and deliverables and preparation of related documents.
• Taking the lead role in developing and delivering each project's communication strategy.
• Organising and coordinating key project events and consultations, both informal and statutory, including pre-planning application consultation.
• Ensuring necessary publicity and information is provided as required and that adequate stakeholder consultation takes place.
• Dealing sensitively with a range of complex and contentious enquiries from all stakeholders, efficiently addressing any issues requiring immediate attention.
• Keeping abreast of new legislation, statutory guidance, central government policies, local authority policies and practices relevant to the successful delivery of the Council’s Schools Capital Programme.
• Evaluating the performance of procurement and delivery methods used and contributing to the procurement strategy for the education capital programme.
• Developing and supporting the service offered to maintained schools by developing schools’ Asset Management Plans to prioritise the use of devolved maintenance and capital funding in line with building condition priorities.
• Supporting decarbonisation of the schools estate by identifying bidding opportunities for capital funding in each school's Heat Decarbonisation Plan.

General responsibilities applicable to all jobs:

• Demonstrating awareness/understanding of equal opportunities and other people’s behavioural, physical, social and welfare needs.
• Complying with the Council’s policies and procedures including safeguarding, financial regulations, promotion of equalities, customer care, agreed audit actions and health and safety.
• Understanding the council's commitment to Corporate Parenting and taking responsibility to support this commitment.
• Carrying out any other duties which fall within the broad spirit, scope and purpose of this job description and which are commensurate with the grade of the post.

This job description reflects the major tasks to be carried out by the post holder and identifies a level of responsibility at which they will be required to work. In the interests of effective working, the major tasks may be reviewed from time to time to reflect changing needs and circumstances.