Senior Planner

About the Role:

At WSP, there’s nothing we love more than pushing boundaries. Harnessing innovation and sharing insights across our diverse, international team to create a tomorrow’s world that’s cleaner, greener and safer. Join us and you’ll be part of an organisation that takes pride in its people and purpose: creating long-lasting solutions to meet the needs of generations to come.

At WSP, you’ll find yourself challenged in more fascinating and far-reaching ways than ever before. You’ll explore new and inspiring opportunities to make the most of your expertise, broaden your professional horizons and create exciting new possibilities for people, organisations and society in general.

The Planning Consultancy team in Central London specialise in providing commercial planning advice to a wide-range of private and public sector clients. It is an established front end development team which advises on development proposals throughout all stages of the planning process from feasibility, plan promotion, application, EIA and appeal. Our projects range from complex city centre regeneration sites, tall buildings, high density housing, strategic housing promotion, repurposing town centres, retail development, sports and leisure, logistics and major business parks, through to detailed listed building reuse. We act for developers, land owners, home builders, registered providers, financial institutions, strategic promoters, retailers and operators. We are proud to be involved in leading some of the region’s largest and most high-profile schemes.

We are looking to recruit enthusiastic team players with a can do attitude. Candidates will have some private sector consultancy or local authority experience, a proven ability to deliver to a high standard, strong communication skills, passion to share their knowledge and a desire to learn and contribute to the on-going success of our team.

You will be a Senior Planner with a good knowledge and experience of the planning process including planning applications, permitted development, policy frameworks, plan promotion and the appeal process. You will be well versed in using critical thinking to prepare planning appraisals and strategies, the preparation of all planning documentation for developments, the associated negotiations with planning authorities and stakeholders.

We’re looking for Planners with demonstrable experience, with the confidence and initiative to run projects themselves, but also work within a team on large scale projects. Ideally, you already have private sector experience, but this is not a pre-requisite.

As one of the world’s leading engineering, professional services and technical consultancy firms, at WSP, we’re passionate about the big questions. And big answers, naturally. For us that’s all about reaching beyond the expected, to do work that’ll make a profound impact felt long into the future.

A typical week would include:

1. Devising planning strategies, assessing site’s planning history and relevant planning policies contained within a development plan; as well as national planning policy and guidance.
2. Preparing briefing notes that set out the likelihood of achieving planning permission for housing or employment uses.
3. Drafting planning statements in a clear and persuasive way, to support development proposals.
4. Leading planning aspects in multidisciplinary teams delivering planning projects.
5. Attending site visits, design team and client meetings.
6. Managing project delivery and budgetary control.
7. Working collaboratively with colleagues from across WSP, for example in the Transport or Sustainability Teams, to ensure their advice is factored into the combined advice provided to clients by WSP.
8. Monitoring planning applications and liaising with clients and teams to respond to consultation feedback.

We’d love to hear from you if you have:

• Strong technical skills
• A commercial approach to planning consultancy and development.
• A desire to work in a growing planning team, surrounded and supported by a raft of fellow professionals.
• Strong organisational and communication skills.
• Strong analytical skills
• Drive and determination

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