Planning Technician in Walthamstow

Organisation: London Borough of Waltham Forest

Salary: SO1 £38,256 - £39,276

Contract Type: Full-time/Permanent

Working hours per week: 36

Application Deadline: 30/06/2026

Proposed Interview Date(s): TBC

Reference: 2123

About Us: Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work. We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by culture and the innate creativity of our residents, we have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities. Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded; a Council focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents.

London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the Mayor of London’s Good Work Standard employers. This accreditation is proof of our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace. This includes fair pay and conditions, workplace well-being, skills and progression and diversity and recruitment.

The Council’s preference is for online application. However, if you have a disability and are unable to complete an online application, please email recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk so we can arrange an alternative application method.

About the role: We are looking for individuals who may be currently studying for a Planning Master’s Degree part-time only, or recent graduates with Town Planning as their first degree or a related discipline, looking to develop their planning career. Role involves managing applications through the validation and statutory consultation process, managing assigned cases through the planning appeals process, managing a caseload of household and simple minor and other applications, including taking responsibility for meeting government and corporate performance standards as applies to their caseload. Planning Technicians will be responsible for the validation of applications as well as managing a caseload.

We offer a great opportunity to develop your career with a positive approach to development and a desire to put sustainable development policies into practice. If you have any questions at all about the role, please contact Unwana Essien on 020 8496 6709 or unwana.essien@walthamforest.gov.uk. All conversations will be held in strictest confidence.

Key Responsibilities:

• Manage applications through the validation and statutory consultation process.
• Manage assigned cases through the planning appeals process.
• Manage a caseload of household and simple minor and other applications.
• Take responsibility for meeting government and corporate performance standards as applies to their caseload.
• Work to detailed procedures and be able to deal with simple day-to-day problems at the appropriate level without referring to others.
• Make recommendations and provide planning advice for householder and simple minor and other applications based on Council and legislative policies and procedures.
• Work to senior officer/Team Leader direction, within a policy framework and regulatory guidelines, applying knowledge of systems, procedures and best practice to ensure performance standards are met within a framework of policy and legislation.
• Deal with people confidently, sensitively and diplomatically.
• Flexibility, a positive attitude and ability to adapt to changes due to service needs.
• Occasionally the post will be expected to work from other locations.
• Occasionally the post will be expected to attend work outside normal working hours, including attendance at evening meetings.
• Other reasonable duties as required by Head of Development Management, Planning Managers and Team Leaders as required.

Qualifications and Requirements:

• A basic understanding of town planning and the role of development management.
• A basic understanding of how services are provided in a Local Government context and political awareness about the issues facing local government.
• A basic understanding of town planning and urban regeneration issues in a major city context and how development management can contribute to this.
• A basic understanding of the legal and regulatory framework for Town Planning.
• An understanding of the importance of customer satisfaction with a strong customer focused attitude.
• Experience of working in town planning or a related field.
• Ability to deliver a strong customer focused service putting the customer at the centre of the Development Management service.

Indicative Qualifications:

• Degree in a relevant subject.
• Alternatively, working towards a degree in a relevant subject or a relevant professional qualification or extensive experience within a development management service.

Terms and conditions:

• Satisfactory employment references and CIFAS identity checks;
• Satisfactory declaration of interest;
• As a public authority, we must ensure that members of staff in public-facing roles are able to speak fluent English. This means that they must have a command of spoken English, with confidence and accuracy, sufficient for the effective performance of their role.

How to Apply: Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications online by pressing the ‘Apply’ button below. This includes a supporting statement that outlines to us how your skills and experience make you a good candidate for this vacancy. We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

Equal Opportunity Employer: Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both service delivery and employment of its staff. The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area, it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population. We use our statutory duties on race, gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age, faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace. The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives:

• Promoting equality of opportunity
• Opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and disadvantage
• Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels.
• Providing fair, appropriate, accessible and excellent Services to all.

Respecting Diversity is a core Council value.

To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities, the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process, which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting. The council also operates a scheme whereby, for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2, internal candidates are considered first. This includes those candidates who self-identify as having a disability for the purposes of the Disability Confident scheme. For more information, please refer to our recruitment and selection policy.

We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below or feel free to discuss this during your interview.

For more information on the benefits of working for the Council, please visit here.

Contact Information: If you have any questions about this vacancy or the application process, please contact Unwana Essien at unwana.essien@walthamforest.gov.uk or 020 8496 6709. If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post, please contact our Recruitment Team via email at recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk.

Fraud Awareness Notice: The London Borough of Waltham Forest only advertises vacancies via our official website and approved recruitment platforms (e.g. Jobsgopublic). We will never ask for payment or request sensitive personal or financial information as part of our recruitment process. If you are contacted by a third party claiming to represent the Council, please verify the vacancy via our official careers website before sharing any information. If you have concerns about a job advert or communication, please report it to: fraud@walthamforest.gov.uk.