Lead Project Officer - Minerals & Waste

About the role

Protect it. Shape it. Enjoy it. Come to Dorset and be a part of it

Dorset is a beautiful and iconic area, with historic market towns, wonderful countryside and miles of stunning coast as well as a place of innovation and growth.

We are a bold and ambitious council, taking Dorset into the future – and our Planning team is taking centre stage.

It’s a great council to work for, and you will be joining a friendly, supportive team.

Employee benefits include a local government pension, generous annual leave allowance, flexible working and wellbeing support.

This is your chance to take the lead in preparing a new Minerals and Waste Plan for the whole of the Dorset Council area.

Whether you have a background in minerals and waste or are an experienced planner looking for a change of direction, Dorset is an exciting place to be working in minerals and waste, with a wide and varied range of minerals, waste management technologies and environmental constraints.

Our main office base is in Dorchester but we are all set up for hybrid working and you can work remotely or in the office, as long as you can be available for necessary meetings and site visits.

You would be the lead officer of a small group preparing the new Minerals and Waste Plan, following the new local plan process. Dorset has a wide variety of minerals, and we also need to look for sites for new waste infrastructure. It’s a chance to organise and carry out the whole process of preparing a plan, including research, consultation and public examination.

You’ll be working within a wider team of specialist minerals and waste planning officers, and liaising with a wide range of other planning, environmental, economic development and waste team colleagues. You’ll also be working with adjoining councils in the Wessex Region in the preparation of a Spatial Development Strategy which will include higher level minerals and waste policy.

We’re looking for a qualified planner with relevant experience, preferably in minerals and waste planning policy, but you may have other planning experience that can be utilised in the role.

Within the role, you will:

• manage a significant workload and meet challenging deadlines
• demonstrate strong written and oral communication skills
• present confidently to committees, inquiries and public forums
• understand democratic processes and public consultation
• work effectively within a team and advise others where required
• support and help train junior staff
• be adaptable and able to balance competing demands
• share our values of Respect, Together, Accountability, Openness and Curiosity

This is a full-time role at 37 hours per week, though we are happy to hear from people who would prefer to work part-time.

This post requires significant travel. You must have a vehicle (or transport we deem suitable) available for use as needed. You'll need to be able to drive, as minerals and waste sites are not always on public transport routes, but we do have pool cars available.

Please contact Hilary Jordan (Service Manager for Spatial Planning) - hilary, or Felicity Hart (Minerals and Waste Planning Manager) - felici, if you would like to discuss the role further.

We welcome applications from everyone and are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. If you declare a disability and meet the essential criteria for the role, we will offer you an interview. We also want our recruitment process to be accessible, if you need any reasonable adjustments, just let us know on your application.

This role is UK-based, and we will need to confirm your Right to Work as part of the appointment process.