Planning Adviser

Summary

At the National Trust we care for places of historic interest and natural beauty for everyone, for ever. We provide access to more land in Northern Ireland, England and Wales than any other private landowner. We understand the importance of influencing the planning system at local, regional and national levels in accordance with our statutory purpose, in order to safeguard special places whilst regarding conservation as the careful management of change.

Effective planning and land management is at the heart of everything we do. Our sites are under increasing pressure from competing land uses, and we have an important role to play in promoting an integrated approach to sustainable development. We recognise the importance of early engagement to maximising our influence and increasingly we are exploring working in partnership to deliver more through developments as they come forward.

Hours: 22.5 hours per week, flexible working pattern, to be discussed further at interview.

Salary: £30,000 per annum (£50,000 full-time equivalent)

As part of the wider National Trust Specialist Delivery team and as one of a multi-disciplinary team of experts, you’ll be working collaboratively with others to support delivery of our strategic priorities. You will connect and actively engage with the Trust’s planning community through a range of forums and networks, which provide training, support and guidance and shared learnings. We want to build on our existing work to bring benefit to more people in ways that are meaningful and relevant through working in partnership for shared outcomes.

This part-time role covers Northern Ireland, and so your contractual place of work will be the regional hub office at Rowallane Garden, Saintfield, County Down. Our hybrid working policy means you can balance office and home working with site visits and meetings at and beyond National Trust places. We’ll talk about this in more detail at interview, but you should expect to be at a National Trust site for 40-60% of your working week.

Recognising this is a part-time role, work prioritisation and capacity planning will be dynamically reviewed to ensure a manageable workload and a continued focus of your expertise on the most complex and strategic work.

Acting as the lead on all planning matters across Northern Ireland, you’ll provide specialist advice on everything from local spatial planning, development management and land management, as well as policy-related work. You will be able to tackle a wide range of planning challenges facing our places, from influencing external major infrastructure and third-party development projects to the sensitive development of our own sites to sustain their future.

With your proven experience colleagues will look to you for in-depth, up-to-the-minute expert advice and guidance. Like everyone here, you’ll relish the challenge of helping more people to enjoy our special places and spaces, and to safeguard them for everyone, for ever.

• Significant practical knowledge of the Northern Ireland Planning Act, SPPS and regional planning context
• An experienced planner (either urban or rural planning) with broader knowledge and experience across at least one of the following areas: major infrastructure, transport planning, policy development, environmental issues, landscape or heritage.
• Ability to bring strategic oversight; to horizon scan and identify risks and opportunities
• Adept at analysing, resolving and preparing positions or advice on planning issues and able to influence positive outcomes across decision-making and policy creation.
• Understanding of what’s happening in the wider world of land use and planning, including…