Senior Planning Officer

Job summary

We have vacancies for at least nine Senior Planning Officers/Senior Planning Technical Officers in the Planning Directorate. These roles are based in the Nature Restoration Fund team, the Environmental Outcomes Reports team, the Sustainable Development and Environment Team, the Permitted Development Rights Team and Planning Infrastructure team. These are exciting and high-profile areas of work, closely linked to the Government’s growth mission and at the heart of the environmental planning and planning policy reform programme.

The Planning and Infrastructure Act will speed up and streamline the delivery of new homes and critical infrastructure, supporting delivery of the government’s Plan for Change milestones of building 1.5 million safe and decent homes in England and making 150 planning decisions on major economic infrastructure projects by the end of this Parliament.

The Nature Restoration Fund forms part of the Planning and Infrastructure Act, seeking to create the opportunity for housing and infrastructure to do more for environmental recovery.

Measures in the Planning and Infrastructure Act also introduce various reforms to the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project regime, including with regards to updating National Policy Statements. These changes will streamline the planning process for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects, requiring all parties to embrace new approaches and cross system learning.

Environmental Outcome Reports will reform Strategic Environmental Assessment and Environmental Impact Assessment. The new approach will ensure there is a clear focus on protecting our environment, pursuing positive environmental improvements and providing clear join-up between strategic and project scale assessments.

Permitted development rights are a national grant of planning permission to enable development to take place and remove planning applications from the system, where appropriate. It is a fast-paced area of work, with reforms to date including supporting housing delivery, and various other sectors from agriculture to the film industry. The team also leads on use classes and continues its focus on supporting the governments growth agenda.

The Government has also been developing a new National Planning Policy Framework with the overarching objective of improving clarity, usability, and consistency for local planning authorities, developers and stakeholders.

We are looking for Senior Planning Officers/Senior Planning Technical Officers for permanent positions, commencing as soon as possible. These roles are suitable for a qualified town planner or someone who has the equivalent level of applied experience.

Job description

These roles make an important contribution to key aspects of planning policy and environmental assessments. The roles will require working strategically with other team members who are delivering the Government’s planning reforms, collaborating with other teams across Government and engaging with a wide range of stakeholders. The nine specific Senior Planning Officers/Senior Planning Technical Officers roles we are looking to fill include:

1. providing oversight of planning policy and guidance related to pollution, public protection and security. This forms a critical part of our work on national planning policy reform, liaising closely with several other departments, including Defra and the Ministry of Defence
2. working in the climate change team primarily leading on planning policy for flood risk and coastal change, liaising closely with Defra and the Environment Agency.
3. working to provide expert planning advice to support the delivery of Environmental Outcome Reports
4. providing planning advice around the Nature Restoration Fund and future environmental reforms
5. leading on policy development and subsequent legislation to support the delivery of MHCLG and Other Government Departments’ priorities through permitted development rights
6. providing planning advice and to support the implementation of measures in the Planning and Infrastructure Act, including with regards to National Policy Statements
7. leading the development of options to support the telecoms infrastructure and lead briefings and correspondence for the planning infrastructure team
8. providing planning advice and to support the implementation of changes to NSIP pre-application introduced through the Planning and Infrastructure Act (two roles)

Roles are likely to include:

• Contributing to policy development to support updates to national planning or environmental planning policy.
• Undertaking analysis of evidence gathered through engagement and consultation to support policy development and/or secondary legislation.
• Supporting the implementation of policy changes through legislation and guidance documents.
• Leading relationship with key stakeholders across government and managing the ongoing programme of stakeholder and user engagement to support policy development.
• Working closely with legal colleagues in devising innovative planning solutions to technical matters through legislation and in the delivery of policy and guidance.
• Providing input to advice for Ministers and preparing responses to correspondence, briefings and PQs.

Person specification

• SPTOs are those who are Chartered members of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), or who are eligible to apply for membership via the licentiate, associate or experienced practitioner routes.
• Experience in one or more of the following disciplines: strategic planning, planning policy development, environmental assessment, infrastructure planning and development consent orders (NSIP), development management (TCPA), the General Permitted Development Order (GPDO) or environmental permitting processes.
• Able to form strong, effective working relationships with a wide range of stakeholders including officials across Whitehall, subject-matter experts, and external bodies.
• Strong analytical skills and the ability to use data, evidence, and stakeholders’ views to outline options for policy development, and present clear conclusions.
• Comfortable working at pace and under pressure while handling challenging policy issues.
• Able to verbally brief senior civil servants, write succinct and clear written briefings, and draft public briefing lines. Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to translate complex ideas and legal language into clear and succinct arguments.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £41,890, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £12,135 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

At MHCLG we offer many benefits that range from tailored career pathways and flexible working to MyLifestyle Childcare Voucher and Cycle to Work Schemes. For more information, please click here.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

Application and Selection

The application process will be split into 2 stages, testing the following Success Profiles:

Behaviours , Technical

Please ensure your CV does not contain any personally identifiable information.

Note: We do not consider direct CV applications. All applications must be submitted via the provided application link.

Important: Your CV and Cover Letter must be merged into a single document before uploading.

Stage 1: Sift (CV & Cover Letter)

Your covering letter should be no more than 1 page referencing how you meet the criteria set out in the job description.

Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that each of your answers would be viewed by different assessors.

If you run into any technical problems when applying through Be Applied (for example, trouble logging in or submitting your application), their support team can help. Please contact them at hello@beapplied.com.

Stage 2: Interview

• Behaviours: Seeing the Big Picture, Communicating and Influencing, Delivering at Pace, Working Together.

• Technical: Candidates will be asked to prepare a 5-minute presentation, further details will be provided on invitation to interview.

Sift and Interview Dates

Sifting is envisaged to take place the week commencing 9th March 2026.

Interviews are envisaged to take place the week commencing 23rd March 2026 and are currently being held remotely via videocall. This could be subject to change.

How We Recruit

Find out more about our recruitment processes here.

• Applying

• Sifting

• Interview

• Interview Results & Feedback

• Reserve List

• Near Miss

• Civil Service Grades

• We are a DCS, RIS & GPTWV employer

• Reasonable Adjustments

How to Apply

Find out everything you need to know before applying here.

You must review the following information from the MHCLG Career's Site before submitting your application. This step is essential to ensure your eligibility for the role and that your application is completed correctly.

• Security Clearance Requirements

• Civil Service Nationality Requirements

• Right to Work

• Artificial Intelligence

• Civil Service Code and Recruitment Principles

• CV Declaration

• Sponsorships

• Salary and Grade

• Existing Civil Servants

• Conflict of Interest

• Location and Flexible Working

• Fixed Term Contracts

• Internal Fraud Database - Internal Fraud Register

• Appeals and Complaints

• Conflict of Interest

Security Clearance Requirements

National Office:

London Office: + CTC

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Ryan Shean
• Email : ryan.shean@communities.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@communities.gov.uk

Further information

If you are unsure about any part of the process or require additional information about the post to enable you to progress your application, you should speak to the Resourcing team - recruitment@communities.gov.uk. Candidates can appeal at any stage of the recruitment process if they believe there has been:

a procedural irregularity

an infringement of the Civil Service equal opportunities policy

exceptional circumstances which were not notified to the interview panel which might have affected performance on the day.

It is important to note that these are appeals about the process not the decision. In the first instance, an appeal should be directed to the MHCLG Resourcing Hub at recruitment@communities.gov.uk.

If the MHCLG Resourcing Hub is unable to satisfactorily resolve your complaint, you may contact put your complaint in writing to the Civil Service Commission, Room G8,1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ or by email to: info@csc.gov.uk.