Planning Officer

We Are St Helens Borough Council. Located in the heart of the Northwest close to Liverpool, Manchester and Lancashire, St Helens is a transformational Council which is passionate and ambitious for the communities we support. We provide a wide range of local authority services to the residents, businesses, schools, and visitors to the borough. We can only do this because of our highly valued, highly skilled workforce. Working together, our workplace vision and values guide our organisation, and the contribution of our workforce is key to our culture journey.

Employees with us receive a wide range of benefits including well-being in work, financial benefits, ways of working and learning and development support. St Helens plays a key role in the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. We are ideally situated to benefit from the Northern Powerhouse agenda.

Making A Difference as a Planning Officer in the Development Control Service. We are seeking a Planning Officer to join one of two area teams in the Council’s Development Control section. Quality and performance are at the heart of the service and are key priorities for the team as a whole. The successful candidate will therefore have a positive attitude and ‘can do’ approach to work within this context. Applicants should be able to demonstrate sound judgement, have a flexible approach to problem solving and be capable of dealing with a wide variety of situations working within a friendly, supported environment. They must have a relevant qualification, excellent communication and negotiation skills, as well as being enthusiastic and committed.

Interested to Find Out More? You can review our full job description details, and person specification information here. You are also welcome to contact us for an informal discussion. Please note we reserve the right to close the advert early should we receive a sufficient number of applications and encourage you to apply early, to avoid disappointment.

Making a Difference Whatever stage of your career, working in the public sector puts you at the heart of communities. Our workforce provides services to our residents day in and day out, making a positive impact on people’s lives. We could not do this without the dedication, professionalism and strength of our workforce. There are so many reasons to choose to work at St Helens Council including the fantastic range of employee benefits and rewards on offer.

Roles That Matter Full Job Description & Person Specification Documents are included with this advert. Employees can regularly work away from Council workspaces (including home or other locations), alongside required office-based working. The balance between remote and office-based working is determined at service level based on operational need, however, there has been a minimum specification that staff will work at least 2 days from an office-based location. We reserve the right to close the advert early, with sufficient applications. Apply early to avoid disappointment.

St Helens Council is officially recognised as one of the region’s leading fair employers, achieving accredited status under the Liverpool City Combined Authority Fair Employment Charter. The Charter recognises the ongoing commitment to fair pay, secure work, training & progression & staff well-being whilst celebrating employers who go above and beyond for their workforce providing an inclusive and supportive environment.

Equality & Diversity We encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds, who share our values, our commitment to inclusion, and who will help us on our journey to transform our organisation. The Council guarantees an interview to disabled applicants who demonstrate that they meet the essential criteria for the job, as detailed on the Person Specification, and will, for qualifying disabled candidates, make reasonable adjustments within selection. All Council employees are required to abide by the ethical standards embodied by the 7 Nolan Principles.