Area Team Leader

Guildford Borough is a regional centre for leisure, business, education, retail and culture.  Guildford is a thriving market town that has maintained much of its historic character and is a principal shopping destination with a vibrant night-time economy. The town’s location provides excellent transport links as well as providing the balance of being surrounded by beautiful countryside, including the Surrey Hills National Landscape. All of these factors contribute to a quality of life that makes it one of the best places to live in the UK. 

We want to appoint enthusiastic and committed officers to join our skilled Planning Development Management Service which deals with a wide range of planning projects with a number of competing constraints including Green Belt, Flood Plain, National Landscape and a significant number of Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas.    

It is an excellent time to join Guildford, the Authority has an up to date local plan, with a keen focus on preserving the Borough’s heritage and landscape whilst ensuring that the Borough provides high quality homes and access to employment.  You will lead a hard working team who have successfully turned around their performance levels and are now keen to build on their success and improve capacity and skills.    

What’s in it for you? 

We are a diverse organisation, delivering a wide range of services and employing people with a broad range of skills. We want to attract the best staff, so we offer excellent benefits, including: a competitive salary; flexible working arrangements; an essential car user allowance; private medical insurance, currently free staff parking, Hybrid working, cycle to work scheme, payment of one professional membership per annum, mileage allowance and training and development opportunities where required.   

We also provide health and wellbeing initiatives, an employee assistance programme and staff discounts off a range of well-known high street shops and supermarkets.  

In this role you would:  

• Be of one three Team Leaders in the Applications Team leading a team of approximately 7-8 members of staff.
• Be responsible for managing the day to day work of the team including pre application enquiries, planning appeals, including public inquiries and a range of planning applications from householder applications to major applications.   
• Present applications to Planning Committee and support colleagues with this and other internal and external meetings  
• Manage you own caseload of complex minor and small-scale major applications, as well as, monitoring and allocating caseloads across the team, whilst ensuring quality decisions.   
• Provide strong leadership and keeping staff motivated, providing regular reviews and identifying their career paths.   
• Support and provide planning advice to other colleagues within the Council and internal and external stakeholders, including the MP, Ward Councillors and other town and parish councils.   
• Manage performance of the team and ensure national targets are met 
• Working with other team leaders and the Executive Head of Service on Service Improvement.   

To succeed in this role, you will be able to demonstrate: 

• Excellent interpersonal skills and confidence in dealing with people; 
• Proven ability to give sound advice and guidance  
• Have an open minded and positive approach  
• Excellent ability to reason, process information, 
• The ability to work independently and as part of a high performing team; 
• Excellent organisational skills; 
• The ability to adapt to change and use initiative; and  
• The ability to devise, learn and adapt to new systems and processes 
• A good team player 

Qualifications 

Degree in a relevant subject 

RTPI membership desirable or eligible for membership 

Driving Licence  

Interview date – 1st March 2024  

If you do not hear from us within two weeks from the closing date you have not been successful on this occasion.   

If you would like an informal opportunity to learn more about the role, please email Claire Upton-Brown Executive Head of Planning Development at claire.upton-brown@guildford.gov.uk or eloisa.davis@guildford.gov.uk PA to arrange to speak to Claire