The posting
Job Description
Contract Type: Permanent
Working Hours: 37 hours per week
Worker Type: Hybrid Worker
Salary: Starting salary is £42,123, rising to £45,529 per annum (pro-rata for part-time) A £5,000 per annum market supplement is also currently payable for this post.
Location: Loxley House, Station Street, Nottingham, NG2 3NG
We’ve got an exciting opportunity available for talented individuals to join our workforce. Perhaps this is the opportunity you’ve been looking for? Read on to find out more.
Working for Nottingham City Council has great benefits. As well as competitive pay, great leave entitlement and access to a generous pension scheme, we strive to create an innovative, inclusive and progressive work culture where everyone is supported to do and be their very best.
In return, we are looking for people like you: people who are innovative, driven and committed to serving and improving Nottingham. If you are passionate about making a difference to the lives of those who live and work in our city, we want to hear from you.
* You can read more about the different benefits offered to colleagues working for Nottingham City Council here.
About the Role
Nottingham is a Core City with ambitious plans for growth, regeneration and investment. To help deliver that ambition, we need a Development Management service that is recognised as one of the most modern, effective and forward-looking in the country.
We are looking for a Principal Planning Officer to join our Planning team and take the lead on a varied caseload of major, complex and high-profile development proposals. You will manage applications from initial pre-application discussions through negotiation, assessment and decision-making, helping to secure high-quality and sustainable development across the city.
The role will involve working closely with developers, agents, landowners, councillors, local communities, internal specialists and external agencies. You will prepare and present clear, robust reports, negotiate improvements to development proposals and, where required, represent the Council at appeals, public inquiries and court proceedings. You will also help mentor and develop less experienced planning officers, sharing your knowledge and supporting consistent, high-quality decision-making across the team.
This is a strong opportunity for an experienced planner who wants to work on challenging and important proposals in a dense and varied urban environment. Nottingham offers everything from major regeneration and city-centre development to heritage assets, housing growth, neighbourhood investment and complex urban design issues. You will have room to exercise professional judgement, influence outcomes and make a visible contribution to the future of the city.
We are also investing in better systems, data and technology so that planners can spend less time on administration and more time applying their professional expertise. You can find out more about careers and development within our wider service on our Building Control careers page.
About You
The ideal candidate will have:
- A degree in Town Planning or a related discipline accredited by the Royal Town Planning Institute, together with an appropriate postgraduate planning qualification.
- Substantial development management experience, including responsibility for major, complex or high-profile planning applications.
- Thorough knowledge of planning legislation, national and local planning policy, statutory processes and current development management practice.
- Strong analytical and professional judgement, with the ability to assess complex proposals and technical information and produce clear, robust recommendations.
- Excellent communication, stakeholder-management and negotiation skills, including the ability to explain complex planning matters and work confidently with developers, communities, councillors and senior stakeholders.
The role requires someone who can manage a substantial workload, work effectively under pressure and take ownership of progressing complex cases. You should be pragmatic and solutions-focused, while maintaining professional standards and ensuring that decisions are legally and procedurally robust.
How to Apply
Please submit:
- An up-to-date CV setting out your qualifications and employment history; and A supporting statement explaining how your knowledge, skills and experience match the five ideal-candidate criteria set out above.
- Your supporting statement should provide clear and specific examples from your work. Please do not rely on your CV alone, as the CV and supporting statement will be considered together when shortlisting applicants.
You can find the job description for this post here.
At Nottingham City Council we believe that work is what you do, not where you do it. We offer different working arrangements, depending on the role, including hybrid working. Further information on Worker Types and what these mean in terms of how and where you work can be found on the additional information for applicants page.
For informal enquiries please contact Matt Ralfe, Head of Development Management, by telephone on 07904892214 or by email at [email protected]
Closing Date: 30th November 2026
Please note there may be occasions where we close the advert before the closing date and we encourage you to apply as soon as possible.
Interviews will be held: w/c 7th December 2026
If you have any technical issues when completing your application, please contact our Employee Service Centre: https://emss.org.uk/support
By applying to this job, you agree to our Terms & Conditions.
About Us
Thank you for your interest in working for Nottingham City Council. As one of the largest employers in Nottingham we offer a wide range of roles across a range of services. In return for your skill, drive and commitment to serving the people of Nottingham, we can help you to develop an exciting and rewarding career, with access to the following benefits.
In addition to working within a great team and a competitive salary you will have access to:
- 26 days annual leave (rising to 33 days after 5 years’ service) + bank holidays with the ability to buy additional leave annually
- Access to a generous, defined benefit pension scheme offering 17.9%
- Smart Working – to support your work life balance
- Health and wellbeing benefits including access to our Employee Assistance Programme
- Discounted membership at selected local sports and fitness centres, cinema, shopping and much more!
Nottingham City Council is committed to recruiting a talented workforce that reflects the communities we serve. We are a fair, inclusive and Disability Confident Employer, welcoming applications from people of all backgrounds, identities and abilities. We recruit for diversity and value difference.
If you are a disabled candidate and wish to be considered under our Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this within your application. We are committed to making reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process and employment journey.
We are proud signatories of the Armed Forces Covenant and welcome applications from serving personnel, veterans, reservists and military families.
We particularly want to hear from you if you are from Minority Ethnic communities, identify within the LGBTQ+ community, or are disabled. These groups are currently underrepresented in our workforce, and we are committed to better reflecting the communities we serve.
We are supportive of flexible working arrangements wherever possible and encourage candidates to discuss this with us during the recruitment process.
