Town Planner in Colchester

Job DescriptionFarm Planning Consultant

Office or remote based | Full time | Permanent

You trained to make sound planning decisions. The job often stops you.

Vague briefs. Files nobody owns. Applications submitted before the argument was tested. Advice given by email with no record of why. If you have worked in planning for any length of time, you have seen it, and you know it leads to refusals that should never have happened.

We built Foxes Rural to do it properly

Farm planning is all we do. We work for farmers and rural landowners across the UK on agricultural permitted development under Part 6, Class Q and Class R conversions, full planning in the countryside, biodiversity net gain, condition discharge and enforcement. We are a small team, and every process exists for a reason.

How the work is run

• Every enquiry and instruction has a named owner, tracked on a shared case board. You always know what is yours.
• Every call, email and decision is logged on the case record.
• Every case is reviewed by our Planning Director before it leaves the office.
• Stage 1 strategy calls are recorded and transcribed, so nothing relies on memory.
• One longer team call a week, on Thursday. Other calls are short and about a specific question.
• Clear cover standards when someone is off, so no case stalls.

What you will do

• Assess farm holdings against the GPDO, the NPPF and local plan policy.
• Write planning statements and prior approval submissions that would stand up at appeal.
• Run your own caseload, with defined expectations agreed from the start.
• Deliver Stage 1 Planning Strategies: a written assessment of what a farm can build, convert or change, and in what order.
• Explain the position plainly to clients, including when the answer is no.

What you need

• Experienced planners: RTPI or RICS membership is required.
• Graduates: a planning related degree is required.
• The patience to read a condition line by line before forming a view.
• A preference for evidence over opinion.
• To work from our office in Essex or remotely, with the discipline to keep case records up to date wherever you are.
• No farming background needed. You need accuracy, and the willingness to learn how farms actually work.

What success looks like

You will be running your own caseload immediately. You will write statements you would defend in front of an inspector, and see buildings you argued for standing on real farms.

What it costs to stay put

Good planners lose years in roles where the work is rushed and nobody checks it. The skills fade and the frustration grows.

foxesrural.co.uk

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