Planning service career opportunities

Our all-new planning service is at the heart of change and development in communities across our vast and varied county. Find out about exciting career opportunities in our planning service.

Join our new planning service, one of the largest in the country.

Shape our place, shape our service, shape your career!

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A collage of photographs of different areas in North Yorkshire.

Planning opportunities at North Yorkshire Council

This is an extremely exciting time to join us as we are now well established and into the second year of the unified North Yorkshire Council. We are now reaping the benefits of the newly integrated services that service the whole of the region and we are investing in and expanding our planning service.

Planning is at the heart of change and development within communities across our vast and varied county, making it one of the largest planning services in the country. We tackle diverse projects from domestic through to national infrastructure – offering opportunities for staff to develop expertise and contribute to projects that shape our county. If you are ambitious about your future in planning services this is a great time to join us as we invest in building a world-class planning service, whilst being community focussed on a local level.

You will be inspired by new opportunities and the exposure and experience to develop your skills. You will join a highly experienced and friendly team who have a vision to embrace the exciting challenges that lay ahead including growth ambitions for North Yorkshire and a new local plan. Working with us you will have the opportunity to make a real difference for our communities, securing ‘growth’ with new housing projects and regenerating our town centres, leading on major commercial, leisure developments and infrastructure projects. We also offer the unique opportunity to deliver these projects alongside shaping and protecting our thriving towns and rural areas set within the North Yorkshire countryside. If you are looking for a new challenge, career progression and a modern working culture, come and join us on our journey, and shape our place and our service.

North Yorkshire is a special place. It is a great county with people and businesses who are proud to live here, proud of what they do and of who they are. We are passionate about the place that we work in and the communities of which we serve. We are proud of what we have achieved; confident about the services that we provide and ambitious for the future even through challenging times.

Through local delivery hubs situated across the county, we can offer staff increased flexibility as to how and where they work, for some roles the freedom to work anywhere across the county. In North Yorkshire, we are extremely well connected, with great road and rail links across the country. We are also within easy reach of some of the UK’s leading cities including Newcastle, Leeds and York.

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A photograph of a residential street next to a photograph of smiling parents and their son standing next to a car.

The roles

Planning and development play a fundamental role in improving the lives of residents, businesses and visitors across North Yorkshire. Managing the natural and built environment, ensuring that the future development needs of the county can be accommodated to make it a better place in which to live and work. Whether it be business development or residential, minerals or waste, collectively we strive to deliver the best services we can for the communities we serve. This also provides opportunities for you to work across a wide variety of interesting projects.

We operate a hybrid model of working, offering the opportunity for our staff to work from home, but also from a base within your chosen ‘patch’ to enable you to be fully immersed within the community in which you will provide your skills and expertise. Bases of work include Harrogate, Malton, Northallerton, Richmond, Scarborough, Selby and Skipton.

As we invest in our new planning service we are currently recruiting for a number of opportunities.

The current vacancies include:

Career grade planning officers

Applications are welcome until 9 August 2024.

Interviews will be held the week commencing 2 September 2024.

For more information or an informal discussion please contact:

Apply online: Planning Officer – Development Management

Compliance officer

Applications are welcome until 16 August 2024.

Interviews will be held the week commencing 2 September 2024.

For more information or an informal discussion please contact:

Apply online: Planning Compliance Officer (Development Management)

Enforcement officer

Applications are welcome until 16 August 2024.

Interviews will be held the week commencing 2 September 2024.

For more information or an informal discussion please contact:

Apply online: Planning enforcement officer

Principal planning officer

Applications are welcome until 9 August 2024.

Interviews will be held the week commencing 2 September 2024.

For more information or an informal discussion, please contact:

Apply online: Principal planning officer – Development Management

Senior enforcement officer

Applications are welcome until 16 August 2024.

Interviews will be held the week commencing 2 September 2024.

For more information or an informal discussion please contact:

Apply online: Senior planning enforcement officer

Senior planning officers

Applications are welcome until 9 August 2024.

Interviews will be held the week commencing 2 September 2024.

For more information or an informal discussion please contact:

Apply online: Senior planning officer – Development Management

Ecologist

Applications are welcome until 21 August 2024.

Interviews will be held the week commencing 2 September 2024.

For more information or an informal discussion please contact:

Apply online: Ecologist

Environment and design manager

Applications are welcome until 26 August 2024.

Interviews will be held the week commencing 2 September 2024.

For more information or an informal discussion please contact:

Apply online: Environment and design manager

Planning, policy, place/senior planning, policy, place officer - career graded

Applications are welcome until 21 August 2024.

Interviews will be held the week commencing 2 September 2024.

For more information or an informal discussion please contact:

Apply online: Planning policy and place officer - career graded

Principal ecologist

Applications are welcome until 21 August 2024.

Interviews will be held the week commencing 2 September 2024.

For more information or an informal discussion please contact:

Apply online: Principal ecologist

Principal landscape architect

Applications are welcome until 26 August 2024.

Interviews will be held the week commencing 2 September 2024.

For more information or an informal discussion please contact:

Apply online: Principal landscape architect

Urban design officer

Applications are welcome until 21 August 2024.

Interviews will be held the week commencing 2 September 2024.

For more information or an informal discussion please contact:

Apply online: Principal urban design officer

Principal conservation officer

Applications are welcome until 21 August 2024.

Interviews will be held the week commencing 9 September 2024.

For more information or an informal discussion please contact:

Apply online: Principal conservation officer

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An aerial view of a North Yorkshire seaside town next to an image of a blurry high speed train.

What you will bring

We are always keen to hear from planning professionals at all stages of their careers. We are looking for people who are strong communicators, adopt a conscientious approach to their work and have the ability to work well under pressure with conflicting demands/challenges. You will have a passion for having a positive impact on local communities, that will be central to your approach and will enable you to gain job satisfaction.

More opportunities

These immediate opportunities not quite what you are looking for? As a large service we will have future opportunities that might be just what you are looking for. If you are an experienced planning professional please send our resourcing professionals your CV to Anna.Jones@northyorks.gov.uk. Alternatively, please look out for future opportunities within our growing and ambitious planning service.

What we can offer you

We are offering a unique professional development opportunity. Colleagues will be provided with comprehensive levels of professional development, alongside the opportunity to work with experienced colleagues in our planning teams.

We have embraced modern work practices, enabling colleagues to work from home or their chosen base, with offices across the geography of North Yorkshire to choose from. We regularly come together as a team for development, connection and collaboration, otherwise, we work where it is most productive to do so. You will be provided with technology to enable efficient and effective work, ensuring that you are connected and well-supported. You are provided with a comprehensive benefits package with an excellent employer-defined pension scheme, enhanced holidays and flexible working to help you thrive at home as well as work.

Key documents

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Views of towns in North Yorkshire.

Why work for us

We are a strong performing authority, with supportive political leadership and talented teams providing the platform to have a fulfilling, challenging and successful career in a truly stunning place.

A recent peer challenge found that the council is a good place to work, with strong leadership and a loyal and committed workforce who have access to well-regarded training and development.

We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice, offering a range of training and development opportunities and career progression allowing you to manage your own development journey and empowering you to control your career. Your career can change with your life here in North Yorkshire.

We positively encourage flexible working and we provide you with the technology you need to work from a wide variety of locations.

We believe in the importance of inclusion, which is why we are always working towards being a more diverse, equitable and inclusive employer. Find out more about our equality, diversity and inclusion work on our working for us page. You can bring your whole self to work, and we will support you to be the best that you can be.

Our values, behaviours and ambitions underpin everything we do.

In addition to your salary, we offer a range of great benefits to help you financially make life a bit easier. These include:

  • a local government, career average employer contribution pension scheme
  • family friendly leave
  • salary sacrifice schemes
  • modern flexible working practices
  • learning and development packages
  • career advancement opportunities
  • employee discount benefits including shopping and gym discounts
  • green car and cycle schemes
  • travel loans

You can find more information on the range of benefits we offer on our total rewards page.

Watch this video to find out about our employee networks.

Living and working in North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire is a thriving county that adapts to a changing world and remains a special place to live and work.

North Yorkshire's natural beauty is captured in its three areas of outstanding natural parks, national nature reserves, stunning coastlines, scenic rural villages, vibrant cities and market towns. North Yorkshire really is a beautiful, thriving and special place to live and work, rich in heritage and culture.

North Yorkshire features significantly in the ten best places to live in the UK in Halifax Quality of Life Survey. The Quality of Life index aims to quantify where living standards are highest in the UK by ranking local performance across a range of indicators. Local areas featured in the top ten included Richmond, Selby and Malton.

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics bulletin positions North Yorkshire as the safest place in England with extremely low crime rates.

In addition, the county benefits from excellent road and rail links, with easy access via the east coast mainline, the A1(M) and A19. Leeds, York, Newcastle, Durham and Teesside are all easily commutable, and London and Edinburgh are just two hours away by train.

From its lively cities to pretty villages, rolling countryside and grand coastline, Yorkshire has so much to offer including great employment opportunities for your family members, along with a higher proportion of schools which are good or outstanding compared to national figures.

You can find out more about what North Yorkshire has to offer on the No place like North Yorkshire website.

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A collage of images including countryside views of North Yorkshire, an online calendar, a car being filled with petrol, construction work and a man buying groceries.

Application tips

Find advice on making your application.

Contact us and apply

If you feel you have the skills, passion, and drive that we are seeking, we want to hear from you!

For an informal conversation about this opportunity, please contact Martin Grainger, Head of Development Management on martin.grainger@northyorks.gov.uk.

To apply please submit your application via our jobs and careers site.

We will not accept applications from agencies.

Key dates

Closing date: 27 May 2024
Interview date: Week commencing 3 June 2024