Planning Services & Operations Manager

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In order to apply for this vacancy please use the Apply Online link below. No CVs or applications from Agencies accepted.

Planning Services & Operations Manager

Post No: TBC

Salary: Starting from £52,741 to £56,195 per annum

Grade: Grade 9

Hours: 37 hours per week

Place of work: Worthing Town Hall/hybrid

Closing date: 7th October 2025

Interviews: TBC

The Planning Services & Operations Manager is a crucial role in leading multidisciplinary professional officers across the Planning, Land Charges and Street Naming and Numbering teams.

In this role you will provide leadership across the technical and support services associated with the functions with a digital by default approach seeking continuous improvement as to how we provide our services to residents and stakeholders. You will be responsible for dealing with many first points of contact to the planning department ranging from general planning enquiries, freedom of information requests and land searches.

A particularly important part of this role will be to seek and implement opportunities to improve the efficiency of service, where possible streamlining operations to ensure that members of the team are able to devote their expertise to providing a high quality customer focused service.

The postholder will need to demonstrate continuous professional development at a senior management level with experience of local government and knowledge of relevant planning legislation. An ability to deal effectively with customers and other stakeholders as well as a commitment to change management where necessary is also required.

As councils, we are committing to a new operating model which will bring digital and data into the heart of the organisation. As a leader in the organisation we will ask you to champion this shift and to ensure that your own practice and your service is demonstrably adopting new ways of working.

If this sounds like the role for you, we look forward to receiving your application!

At Adur & Worthing, we are committed to supporting care leavers, in accordance with the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 and the Children and Social Work Act 2017. To that end, we operate a guaranteed interview scheme for anyone meeting the essential criteria of the role they are applying for. In order to be considered for this, you will need to be a care leaver under the age of 25 at the time of application. Please confirm that you are a care leaver in the "Showing how you meet the person specification and job description" section of the application form.

As a Disability Confident employer, we will ensure that a fair and proportionate number of applicants declaring a disability, that meet the essential criteria for this position, will be offered an interview.

Staff are our most important asset and we therefore have a benefit package which reflects our continuing commitment to our employees. This includes:

• Generous leave entitlement; a minimum of 26 days + Bank Holiday entitlement
• Local Government Pension
• Training & development
• Occupational Health
• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
• Employee resource groups/networks
• Buddy Support Programme
• Flexible working options

We are committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive community - a place where we can all be ourselves and succeed on merit. Staff work in a supportive and safe environment, recognising their responsibility to value and respect each other’s contributions. Standards of conduct must be of the highest level to ensure that no-one is harassed, bullied or victimised. We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, staff engagement forums and are keen to hear from applicants from a variety of different backgrounds.