Planning Administration Officer - Braintree District Council

Planning Administration Officer - Braintree District Council

Braintree District Council

Permanent, Full Time

£25,795 - £28,861 per annum

Location: Braintree

Closing Date: 16th March 2025

Essex County Council (ECC) are delighted to be supporting Braintree Council to recruit this Planning Administration Officer role.

To Apply please click here: Planning Administration Officer. Please DO NOT click the Apply button on the left.

The Opportunity:

We have an exciting opportunity for a Planning Administration Officer to join our Development Management team.

Are you an experienced Administration Officer or an administrator working within a Planning team with suitable experience? If so, this role may be the new challenge you are looking for.

Braintree will continue to be an area of significant growth over the coming years. We are looking to embrace this challenge to deliver well-designed new homes, create jobs and improve and develop infrastructure for the benefit of existing and new communities.

About the Role

The role is pivotal within the team, taking responsibility for a diverse range of work from registering planning, enforcement and landscape and street naming and numbering applications, to issuing the final decision in accordance with requirements and in a timely manner.

Providing general administrative support to the Development Management, Landscape Services, Planning Enforcement and Validation teams, you will look after telephone and email enquiries and receipt and register all planning, street naming and numbering and tree applications, along with requests for planning enforcement investigations and hedge removal notifications and complaints.

You will also take a lead on the consultation and publicity of planning applications, including statutory adverts in local newspapers and the notification of statutory/non-statutory consultees and neighbourhood properties, process revised plans, liaise with customers and provide administrative support for appeals, including arranging venue and room hire and responding to queries.

Experience:

Our ideal candidate is someone with a strong work ethic, excellent communication and customer service skills, with knowledge or experience of working within a large team like a Development Management team, who can work efficiently and accurately.

You will have excellent interpersonal skills and a proactive and positive approach to your work, with the ability to prioritise and respond to tight and fluctuating deadlines.

Accountabilities:

To undertake a range of administrative tasks arising from:

• The receipt and registration of all Planning Applications, Pre-Applications, Planning Performance Agreements (PPAs), Street Naming & Numbering Applications, and enquiries on the Council’s systems (Uniform/IDOX), including the associated communication with Applicants/Agents and processing of fees and refunds.
• The receipt and registration of requests for planning enforcement investigations, including the associated communication with those requesting the investigation and notification of Ward Members, and the setting up of enforcement cases on Uniform/IDOX.
• The receipt and registration of all tree related applications (TPO & TPOCON), Hedgerow Removal Notifications, High Hedge Complaints, and Tree Enquiries on the Council’s systems (Uniform/IDOX), including the associated communication with Applicants/Agents and processing of any fees and refunds.
• Undertaking the associated consultation and publicity of all planning applications and applications for tree works, including statutory adverts for local newspapers, notification of statutory and non-statutory consultees and neighbouring properties.
• To carry out the administrative procedures associated with the making of new Tree Preservation Orders, including the continuous review and updating of existing Tree Preservation Orders, including ensuring the Council’s systems are up to date.
• Process revised plans including scanning/uploading to IDOX and notifying neighbours, contributors, and consultees where applicable.
• Check Decision Notices for completeness and issue to Applicant/Agent.
• Issue notification letters to customers who submitted representations following the issuing of a decision in relation to all planning and tree related applications, and issue notifications to customers who submitted planning enforcement enquiries to advise of the outcome of the investigation.
• Preparation of Planning Committee agenda and the related notification of interested parties (contributors and consultees) and PowerPoint presentations for Planning Committee meetings.
• Register Appeals for the Development Management, Planning Enforcement and Landscape Services teams on Uniform and upload all relevant documentation and correspondence on IDOX.
• Provide administrative support for appeals as required, including arranging venue and room hire, car parking, liaising with the relevant Officers as required, and responding to correspondence via the appeals inbox.
• Update the Council’s systems (Uniform/IDOX) when appeal decisions are received and undertake notifications to the wider teams and Members.
• To provide general administrative support, as required, to the Development Management teams, the Landscape Services team, the Planning Enforcement Team, and the Admin, Validation, Appeals and Street Naming & Numbering Team.
• Deal with telephone and e-mail enquiries and other administrative tasks required to support the Development Management, Planning Enforcement and Landscape Services teams and to support the wider service as required.
• Process invoices, orders, application fees, and fee refunds.
• To provide administrative support to the wider Planning Service where projects cut across both Development Management and Planning Policy.
• To liaise with customers, maintaining professional standards, both verbally and in writing.

Why choose Braintree District Council?

Braintree District Council is an ambitious and forward-thinking authority with a vision of creating a great place for our residents and businesses.

As a Council our role is as a guardian of the place and its people; where residents live well in healthy and resilient communities; a well-connected district with high-quality homes delivered with the infrastructure and a place which attracts and provides good employment opportunities.

We are becoming one of the fastest growing Districts in the East of England with three growing towns, London just 45 minutes away and the district located directly between the international transport centres of Stansted Airport and Harwich and Felixstowe International Ports. We have a deserved track record for delivering and a strong reputation within the business community and are committed

Braintree District Council is a great place to work. We pride ourselves on our creative and innovative approach which is led by our staff. We are committed to having an engaged workforce who understand our strategy and how they can help deliver it. Some of the benefits of working for Braintree District Council are:

• Flexible working
• Hybrid working arrangements are available in this role (home/office based) subject to business need
• Free parking
• Local government pension scheme
• Learning and development for all staff
• Staff recognition schemes
• Extensive health and wellbeing programme including discounted gym membership.

To apply, click here: Planning Administration Officer

Closing date for receipt of applications: Midnight on Sunday 16^th March

Please Note – Essex County Council is advertising this role on behalf of Braintree District Council and if successful you will be employed by Braintree District Council.