Senior Policy Officer

Human Resources & Development - Form 35b Version 16 - Issued February 2025 JOB DESCRIPTION AND PARTICULARS OF APPOINTMENT ▪ Job Title: Senior Planning Policy Officer ▪ Post Number: P11933 ▪ Grade and SCP: Band 11, SCP 29 ▪ Directorate: Place Where your role fits at Shropshire Council As Shropshire Council we are rightly proud of our achievements and we have proven to be a resilient local authority in our response to the many challenges we overcome, particularly over recent years. We will be continuing this momentum with ambition and a focus on delivering our four key priorities outlined within the Shropshire Plan: Healthy People, Healthy Environment, Health Economy and Healthy Organisation. We are committed to achieving this by aligning everything we do to our vision 'Shropshire - living the best life'; to tell everyone that Shropshire Council is a great place to be. We will enable a skilled, happy, healthy, diverse, inclusive, empowered, and proud workforce that influences and leads change, addressing any inequalities. As a member of the Planning Policy Team within Policy and Environment Service Area, you will support the achievement of these key priorities, making a real difference to the lives of people in Shropshire. The focus of the Planning Policy and Strategy Team is to develop, influence and integrate policy and strategy aimed at spatial and strategic planning with other appropriate Council policies and strategies to drive a clear and sustainable development vision for Shropshire, including fostering an environment that supports effective decision making. The aim of this approach is to ensure there is sufficient social, economic and environmental infrastructure to meet the needs of Shropshire's communities and to ensure communities are resilient and capable of anticipating, understanding and adapting to the environmental, social and economic challenges that lie ahead. Overview of your role Local Plans form an essential part of the Development Plan for the area. The Government is currently developing a new Local Plan making system as part of its national programme of planning reforms and has committed to ensuring full Local Plan coverage for England. Shropshire Council intends commence work on a new Local Plan under this new system in Spring 2026. In addition, Shropshire Council will also be looking to develop a new Spatial Development Strategy, and to update its CIL Charging Schedule over the next two years. This role will make a vital contribution to a range of planning policy work within the Council, assisting in the preparation of the new Local Plan and working with officers in other planning teams by contributing advice on planning policy matters Who will your manager be and what will you be responsible for? You will be: ▪ reporting to the Planning Policy and Strategy Manager who is in turn responsible for your health and safety, training and development. ▪ expected to lead and/or contribute to a range of projects and build relations with both internal and external partners in order achieve specified outcomes but will not have direct authority over those involved. ▪ Responsible for preparing responses in line with Shropshire Council's corporate processes and national/regulatory/statutory processes (e.g. complaints, MP enquiries, Information Governance requests, customer enquiries, media enquiries, HR staff investigations etc..). These responses should be in line with the quality and timescale expectations set out within Shropshire Council's published procedures and/or case allocation emails and discussions. ▪ Responsible for completing within expected timescales all mandatory corporate and role specific training. Training requirements will be detailed in your corporate induction and Personal Development Plan (PDP). Courses are accessed via the council Learning Management System via the Intranet. What will you be doing? The post holder will: ▪ Contribute to a broad spectrum of the Planning Policy and Strategy Team's outputs and projects including production of statutory documents, formal and informal guidance, and successful implementation of planning policy. ▪ Play a lead role in the preparaion and adoption of the Council's new Local Plan, including its vision, objectives and spatial strategy. The post holder will play a lead role in assessing and proposing sites for allocation, and in due course being able to defend these outcomes at independent examnation. ▪ Contribute to Shropshire's involvement in the Spatial Development Strategy (SDS), including working with sub-regional partners and supporting the role of the Stratrgic Planning Board. ▪ Provide planning policy advice and analysis on on a range of matters, but with a particular focus on housing land supply and needs, infrastructure provision and developer contributions. ▪ Support the Council's review of its CIL Charging Schedule, including through supporting the commissioning of necessary evidence, the preparation of reports and involvement at the independent examination. ▪ Liaise with partners, including Parish and Town Councils, and other external organisations at a local, sub-regional, regional and national level and represent the Council on partnerships, boards, working groups and other meetings to represent the Council's interests and to help develop best practice in Shropshire. ▪ Provide advice and support to all relevant parties to aid effective use of developer contributions, including assisting with negotiating financial contributions from development. ▪ Provide specialist evidence, advice and act as expert witness for planning appeals, legal action, public inquiries and negotiations as required. ▪ Ensure ongoing and consistent engagement with Members, local communities, developers, infrastructure providers and other stakeholders on the Development Plan, and other policies as required. ▪ Contribute to the evidence base and drafting of broader corporate, planning policy and strategy, working closely with other partners. ▪ Contribute to ensuring that spatial policy and strategy is coordinated and 'joined up' with other corporate strategies, including but not limited to relevant housing, transport and economic growth strategies and through the Place Plans with infrastructure providers. ▪ Contribute to preparation of area plans, masterplans and development briefs as necessary. ▪ To contribute to the monitoring and analyse the operation of existing policies and propose improvements or new innovations as necessary. ▪ To contribute effectively to the environmental, social and economic well being of Shropshire. The above duties are an illustrative outline and are not an exhaustive list. You will be expected to become involved in a range of work to enable the service to respond effectively to the changing requirements of the Council and changes affecting the workforce. What we expect of you You will: ▪ adopt a customer focused approach when delivering your service, ensuring engagement with service users and maintenance of an appropriate personal profile, ▪ act as an advocate for your service and work collaboratively with colleagues across the whole Council to meet the needs of the people of Shropshire, ▪ meet individual, service and personal development targets agreed through the Personal Development Review Process, learn from experience and are committed to continuous improvement individually and as an employee of the Council, ▪ work with colleagues to meet your team's key performance indicators, support a culture of team working and ensure the team functions successfully in support of the Council's corporate and service objectives. ▪ meet the behaviours and competencies adopted by the Council in the way in which they achieve their objectives and carry out their work. ▪ A priority for the Council is the protection of vulnerable people, ensuring they are able to live as independently as possible. The post-holder will promote and engage with Council's responsibility to safeguard the welfare of children, young people and adults, and protect their right to be safe from harm. ▪ Expected to undertake all relevant training requirements specifically to the role including formal Hearing / Investigating Officer training relating to Disciplinary / Grievance policies and procedures. What are your conditions of Service The conditions of service are those laid down by Shropshire Council, which have been adopted and amended as necessary from those laid down by the National Joint Council for Local Government Services. Your primary work base will be at the Guildhall in Shrewsbury with the requirement to regularly work from home. Your post is subject to the following: ▪ The post is permanent ▪ Normal office hours are 7am - 7pm Monday - Friday and 8am -1pm Saturday with a minimum lunch break of 30 minutes. Occasional evening work may be required, ▪ The post is subject to the Council's annualised hours scheme as implemented within the specific work area. Annual leave entitlement is a pro rata flat rate scheme of 207 hours (28 days) annual leave plus bank holidays, with five days extra awarded to those staff with five years local government service giving an entitlement of 244 hours (33 days). Two days of an employee's allowance (pro rota for part time staff) must be taken at Christmas for any potential Christmas closures. Employees who work in a building/service which is required to open over the Christmas period, the two days leave (pro rota) can be carried over into your next leave year but must be used by the end of March. The appointment is subject to two months' notice in writing on either side. The appointment is subject to six months' satisfactory probationary service during which time the notice period will be one week on either side. Smoking is not ...