Principal Development Manager

About You
Do you have an extensive background in Planning within Local Planning Authorities?
Do you have substantial experience of leading teams, developing strategy and successfully delivering change?
Do you want to have significant positive impacts and help to ensure sustainable development for the planning systems of England, Scotland and Wales?
Can you use your skills and expertise to translate corporate objectives to positive action, support the wider development objectives of the Coal Authority and meet our targets as a high-performing Statutory Consultee? 
If so, read on...
You will be an MRTPI qualified Planning professional with significant experience in an LPA Development Management role, including having dealt with a caseload of major applications or having contributed to major projects teams.

 Ideally you will also have experience of Development Plan preparation including programme management, policy formulation and implementation.

You will possess excellent communication, negotiation and stakeholder management skills, and have knowledge of the key differences between the Planning systems in England, Scotland and Wales, and the significance of the critical relationship between planning policy and the making of effective Development Management decisions.

You will have a working knowledge of the role of statutory consultees in the planning system.

Awareness of performance monitoring and management systems is essential.
Experience of operating in a consultancy based environment with sound commercial awareness would be advantageous but not essential.

Similarly, past experience of project management would be beneficial.
You will need to be competent at using GIS based software, well organised, thorough, quick-thinking and decisive.

You will be skilled in the analysis of plans and reports to reach well-informed conclusions, and also capable of producing high quality reports and presentations for professional and public audiences.

You will work largely under your own initiative, but be capable of leading, developing and working as part of a multi-functional team to deliver a high quality and highly responsive service to our customers.

You will also need to respond positively to guidance from others, and be talented in working on inter-departmental initiatives.

You will need to be aware of established policies and procedures but proficient in tactfully driving forward initiatives for continuous improvement to maintain excellent standards of performance across the Planning team’s various functions.

Excellent oral and written communication skills, and a rational and empathetic approach are also essential.
We don’t expect candidates to meet every single desired qualification.

If your experience looks a little different from what we've identified and you think you can bring value to the role, we'd love to learn more about you!
 

About The Role
The Coal Authority is one of Britain’s “Big Six” statutory consultees, and we were delighted to be informed in 2020 by MHCLG that we are certainly one of the best overall performing consultees.
The Coal Authority’s Planning team currently deal with a fast-paced workload of around 10,000 consultation requests per year, and provide advice to 181 local planning authorities across England, Scotland and Wales.

We provide essential assistance and inputs into Development Management and Development Plan processes, but we’re also involved in influencing national planning policies, providing pre-application advice to the development industry and in supporting the Coal Authority’s own development projects.
We are keen to help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the planning systems in which we operate, and therefore we also implement a programme of engagement with our LPA customers to help improve understanding of the implications of coal mining legacy for new development, our policies and processes.
As the Principal Development Manager you’ll be:

• Working with the Head of Mining Information and Planning to set direction and develop the team’s strategy.
• Working in partnership with colleagues in the Mining Information, Permitting, Property, Engineering, Innovation and Environment teams among others to assist in the delivery of cross-departmental initiatives and development projects.
• Leading and managing the Planning functions, including our role as a statutory consultee, pre-application advice, internal planning consultancy for corporate projects, and external engagement.
• Contributing to the developing and management of relationships with clients, partners and stakeholders across the development industry.
• Responding to consultations from the devolved governments of the three British nations and influencing national policy.
• Working closely with the Development Team Leader to develop, train and guide a busy team of planning professionals and technical / administrative colleagues.
• Monitoring, managing and reporting on performance, as well as inputting into capacity planning, financial planning and other resourcing processes.

• A market leading pension scheme - our employer contribution rate is around 27%!
• Adoption or shared parental leave of 26 weeks full pay (subject to qualifying criteria)
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Diversity Network Groups
• Mental Health Allies
• Civil Service Sports and Social club
• Employee discounts
• Annual medicals
• £15 per month towards wellbeing
• A recognition scheme, where you receive extra money or vouchers
• Flexi-time to give employees freedom to vary their hours around personal preferences and commitments.
• Holiday allowance – 27.5 days annual leave, plus the ability to flex an extra 6 days in addition to 8 public holidays
• On-site free parking, tea, coffee and soft drinks in the Mansfield office
• Sponsorship and professional qualifications support
• Professional subscriptions paid