School Place Planning Manager in Chelmsford

School Place Planning Manager

Permanent, Full Time

£59,952 to £70,531 per annum

Location: Countywide

Working Style: Anywhere worker

The School Place Planning Manager will lead and develop the Council’s school place planning team as it fulfils its critical role in planning for school place sufficiency across Essex.

You will be responsible for ensuring high quality data and forecasts are available to the School Organisation & Place Planning service, and for updating a suite of publicly available documents that quantify and communicate anticipated demand for school places. This includes statutory returns to the Department for Education that underpin our forecasts and capital grants.

Service/Functional Accountabilities

• Lead on defining mainstream education infrastructure requirements across the county, influencing planning and investment decisions to support corporate aims.
• Act as the Service’s member on appropriate boards and groups related to the delivery of education infrastructure in response to housing growth.
• Judge the impact of new housing plans on mainstream schools and, with planning authorities and colleagues, secure appropriate land for new schools and financial contributions from developers (s106 agreements). Support other education functions, particularly SEND, to ensure strategic alignment.
• Review the use of s106 monies within the Schools’ Capital Programme to ensure efficient use of resources in line with legal obligations on ECC.
• Build collaborative working relationships with the Education service, housing authorities, and government departments to advise on education infrastructure requirements, pupil place planning and Local Plans.
• Deliver detailed evidence as an expert witness on education policy and practice issues at Public Inquiries, Examinations in Public and other formal hearings, liaising with planning colleagues, solicitors and Counsel.
• Scope, develop, commission, process and manage key intelligence, data and forecasts to provide a robust evidence base for school organisation and place planning decisions, informing strategic decisions across education services.
• Develop and manage the statutory Department for Education school capacity (SCAP) return cycle that informs the annual grant of ‘Basic Need’ capital funding to ECC.
• Manage the School Place Planning Team to deliver complex data products using Geographical Information Systems, Relational Databases and other analysis tools.
• Set specific individual and shared targets and objectives annually within the performance management framework.

Organisational Accountabilities

• Operational planning and performance review to maintain exceptional service delivery and ensure the political objectives and priorities of the council are met.
• Collaborate across the council to support the delivery of best possible outcomes for customers on a financially sustainable basis.
• Maintain and nurture collaborative relationships for the function with external organisations that support the delivery of annual plans.
• Implement changes and continually evaluate the service to improve work, while maintaining the highest possible levels of service quality.
• Manage complex issues and resources to meet the needs of customers and deliver the best possible outcomes.
• Utilise digital technologies and innovation across the function.
• Use professional expertise to translate goals and plans into working methods that comply with relevant legislation and statutory requirements, managing a level of appropriate risk.
• Deliver exemplary customer interactions to individuals and communities, supporting strong relationships and a reputation for achieving outcomes and resolving issues.

The Experience You Will Bring

• Educated to RQF level 6 (Bachelor’s degree) or equivalent experience in planning or statistical analysis.
• Evidence of continuing professional development and expert knowledge in the relevant professional area.
• Significant experience of forecasting, infrastructure planning and data analysis within the public sector, making comparisons against other local authorities and effective interpretation and evaluation.
• Understanding of District Council Local Plans and housing trajectories to inform consultation responses related to educational requirements.
• Knowledge and understanding of school accommodation to inform net capacity information and site analysis for education requirements.
• Knowledge and understanding of education provision, admissions legislation and school organisation.
• Ability to develop strong working relationships with colleagues and stakeholders to ensure a quality service is provided.
• Understanding of systems analysis techniques and analytical tools used in forecasting and data management.

Please note that the job role requires you to be mobile throughout an operational area. Therefore, the post holder will need to have a driving licence and access to a vehicle, or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means.

Equal Opportunities and Accessibility

Essex County Council is a Disability Confident Leader. We are committed to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum requirements of the job and to provide reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process. We also commit to interview all veterans and care leavers who meet the minimum requirements of the role.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC), if your role requires a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DB S update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information, please visit https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service.

If you have queries about this role or require further information, please email resourcing.team@essex.gov.uk.

Salary: £59,952 to £70,531 per annum.

Location: Chelmsford, Essex.

Sector: Education.