Band 3 Planning Inspector

Shape the future of planning while leading complex, high-profile casework. As a Band 3 Planning Inspector, you will take on a pivotal role in shaping planning decisions across England – guiding panels, influencing outcomes, and delivering projects that matter. This is a position that combines leadership with collaboration, strategic thinking with hands-on delivery, and independence with support.

At this level, you will lead panels of fellow Inspectors, providing direction and challenge where needed, and ensuring hearings and examinations are conducted to the highest standards. Your interpersonal and leadership skills will be key as you manage sensitive, often high-profile public events with confidence and authority. You will work closely with multi-disciplinary teams, balancing significant individual responsibility with the ability to mentor and develop others over time. This is a role for someone who thrives on complexity, values flexibility, and wants to make a lasting impact on planning and development across England.

What you will be doing:

• Deliver a broad range of Band 3 Local Plans casework, ensuring examinations are completed efficiently and to the highest quality standards.
• Lead the most complex Local Plan examinations, gateways, and planning appeals, including public events as an individual Inspector or as a panel chair/lead Inspector, meeting statutory deadlines.
• Provide leadership and coordination when acting as panel lead, guiding colleagues from the outset and throughout the examination, offering mentoring and management oversight.
• Contribute to wider organisational initiatives and projects, supporting the Planning Inspectorate's operational and strategic aims.
• Champion continuous improvement, helping to develop new ways of working, systems, and processes that enhance performance, service delivery, and customer satisfaction.
• Support the development of other Inspectors, through coaching, mentoring, and quality assurance of reports, decisions, and other written work.
• Act as a proactive role model for the Inspector Profession, leading by example and embodying the Planning Inspectorate's Core Values.
• Represent the organisation at external events, sharing good practice and promoting key Planning Inspectorate messages.

What makes this role unique?

There is no such thing as a "typical" week for a Band 3 Planning Inspector. Your work will vary depending on the examination you are leading and its stage in the process. You might be preparing for an examination – reviewing evidence, drafting matters, issues and questions, and liaising with Programme Officers or panel colleagues. If you are working as a single examiner, you will manage the entire examination. As a panel chair, you will take responsibility for organising the division of work among the panel and managing your own work programme. Other weeks, you could be in the thick of an examination – attending site visits or leading hearings in public, sometimes staying away from home. Hearings may also be conducted virtually from your home office or another suitable location. Between examinations, you will focus on writing clear, well-structured recommendation reports, preparing training materials, or undertaking advisory visits. There may also be opportunities to work on Section 78 appeals, including written representations, hearings, and inquiries.

While much of your work will be home-based, you will never feel disconnected. You will collaborate extensively with professional support teams, join virtual meetings and learning sessions, and attend in-person events when needed. You will also have opportunities to connect with colleagues – whether through virtual Lunch and Learn sessions or informal meet-ups with fellow Inspectors nearby.

Person specification

We will assess your application against the Essential Criteria listed:

• Full / Chartered membership of a professional body relevant to the work of an Inspector.
• Significant experience of working in at least one of the following areas of expertise: planning, relevant area of law, transport, engineering, relevant area of health, environmental impact assessment, heritage, building/landscape design, energy, minerals, waste or water.
• Significant experience of influencing and negotiating involving different groups of stakeholders.
• A significant experience of working both independently and leading a small collaborative team in reaching decisions on high level complex projects involving policy, legal and/or planning matters.
• A demonstrable ability to work both independently and leading a small, collaborative team.
• A demonstrable ability to lead and actively manage planning events in which there are high levels of public interest and engagement.
• Effective interpersonal and verbal communication skills, with significant experience of influencing and negotiating with both technical and professional parties, the public and/or public bodies in a high-profile setting.
• Significant experience of making decisions under pressure, effectively using your own initiative, encouraging collaboration between parties.
• Significant experience of assessing, understanding, critically analysing and/or weighing up complex and detailed information and evidence from multiple sources, in order to identify the issues on which you will need to focus your attention and reach robustly reasoned conclusions.
• Significant experience of writing clear, accurate and concise decisions/reports that reach logical, convincing, well-reasoned and evidence-based conclusions on a wide range of complex technical, legal and policy issues to deadlines.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £77,741, Planning Inspectorate contributes £22,521 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Flexible working options, including flexi-time, part-time, compressed hours and home working if suitable for the role. A working culture which encourages inclusion and diversity. 25 days annual leave increasing by 1 day per year up to 30 days after 5 years, plus 1 privilege day to mark the King's birthday.