About the job

Job summary

This position is based nationally.

Job description

Please note for this position a degree in Town Planning is required.

Overview

The MoJ Property Directorate is a customer focused organisation that exists to enable our customers to perform to their very best.  We do this by providing high quality, easy to use services, and working environments that our customers want to work in, which support them to deliver their individual outputs efficiently.  Our job is to manage one of the most diverse and complex estates in Government – hosted by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). The MoJ Property Directorate brings together a property portfolio including Prisons, Probation, and MoJ HQ and Arm’s Length Bodies.  We also provide property services on behalf of the Home Office (HO).

MoJ Property provides specialist services including facilities management, health and safety, fire safety and security, technical design expertise, and sustainability.  We also have business management teams who support the entire Directorate and each of our partners is supported by account management teams.  We are responsible for a great deal - our portfolio consists of properties valued at £8.5bn for the MoJ alone.  We are part of the Government Property Profession (GPP) and through active membership and engagement we will work with the Office of Government Property to develop the maturity of the profession and also encourage our people to join the GPP. We continue to build our capability through training and recruitment, aspiring to be the best that we can be as individuals and as a directorate.

We continue to deliver new ways of working across our portfolio – leading on the scale and pace of activity for central government – proposing ways to achieve, and then providing more dynamic and flexible workspace, while driving down the cost of the estate.

Job Description, Duties and Responsibilities

Two roles are available. Both roles require practical town planning experience, it is envisaged that one of the roles will have an operational delivery / development management focus, with the other having more of a forward planning/policy focus. Successful candidates will be expected to advise confidently on both operational delivery /development management issues and forward planning / policy matters as required. Some flexibility might be possible in terms of how these two roles are defined but this will depend on the skills and experience of the successful applicants.     

The Town Planning Adviser will play a key role in supporting the delivery of a programme of new prison development and other associated built infrastructure across MoJ’s estate. The successful candidate will be responsible for advising on all planning aspects of prison and related infrastructure delivery nationwide. This role involves providing initial and on-going advice on strategic and site-specific planning issues; ensuring that planning advice is available through the life of a project; that suitable planning strategies are in place to ensure the timely delivery of planning permissions; and planning risk is appropriately assessed through the life of a project. An important part of the role is to ensure that the quality and level of planning and related technical expertise is provided and maintained by contractors as part of the contractor’s acceptance of planning risk.

Day to day the role will require the successful candidates to:

• Provide advice on all planning related matters across a wide geography from site selection to site delivery;
• Identify and pro-actively resolve planning problems as they arise to minimise impact on programme delivery and provide challenge and an escalation route to senior management;
• Appoint and manage external planning and legal professionals, (including agreement of scope and on-going liaison) to provide input on projects as required;
• Engage with contractors to monitor progress and performance on the delivery of implementable planning permissions;
• Input into planning advice within Ministerial and other formal submissions in relation to MoJ’s decision making processes and review advice provided by other planning advisors including appointed consultants;
• Develop & maintain effective relationships to work with property, legal, commercial and technical experts to ensure that wider programme and department objectives are met;
• Identify / implement planning process improvements that could deliver better day-to-day working practices;
• Disseminate information on changes to the planning system where this will be beneficial to operational delivery, efficiency and meeting programme objectives;
• Track the planning status of all projects and ensure accurate reporting and timely completion of commissions to support programme analysis;
• Develop and maintain strategic relationships with DLUHC, local planning authorities (and other key stakeholders) to influence emerging policy and work with MoJ colleagues (including HMPPS and HMCTS) on other initiatives to support the delivery of prison infrastructure;
• Provide strategic advice and recommendations on the need for representations to Local Plans and local policy where relevant, with the aim of gaining greater policy certainty on sites at an earlier stage in the process;
• Assist senior managers with programme strategy and policy development, incorporating lessons learnt from projects and the wider experience of the market, urban planning and Government infrastructure projects.

 The successful candidate for the development management focussed role will have responsibility for c. 50 active projects. The second role will have more of a policy / forward planning focus but also involve some active management of live projects and the successful candidate will need to be confident in advising on both operational development management and policy matters and work flexibly as the need arises.  

The role requires effective prioritisation of work and balancing competing demands. The successful candidate will develop close working relationships with other members of the Infrastructure Delivery Team and with other representatives from MoJ to support the delivery of new prison infrastructure and disseminate good practice.

Skills and Experience

Essential

• Established reputation as a trusted advisor, with a proven track record of either:

1. managing and delivering large scale private and/or public sector infrastructure projects and securing planning solutions, and/or
2. providing strategic planning policy advice, and advising on and delivering policy change to assist corporate policy and delivery objectives.

• Experienced at building relationships particularly with Local Authorities and other public sector organisations.
• Ability to operate confidently in a complex organisation and provide written and oral briefings

 Highly Desirable

• Successful experience of delivering challenging programmes/policy solutions and change in a complex environment to demanding timescales.
• Project management experience, particularly in construction
• Awareness of Government Property Profession

Qualifications

• A Degree in Town Planning
• Qualified Town Planner (MRTPI and/or RICS) with at least 7 years post qualification experience

Government Property Profession (GPP) Technical Skills

The GPP Framework is aimed at staff working in property or property-related roles and consider property to be their career anchor profession. This usually encompasses posts where professional qualifications and experience are directly relevant to the work being undertaken. However, it is also applicable to those who are currently not qualified property practitioners but wish to make this their profession of choice. Those with a property background at any level are encouraged to register with the GPP, which exists to support property practitioners at all levels. Details of the GPP Career Framework can be found at:  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-government-property-profession-career-framework--2

This role falls under Planning & Development Senior Practitioner and some or all of the following Technical Skills will be tested during the selection process:

• Strategy and business planning - E
• Property and professional practice - E
• Analytical decision making - E
• Customer and client focus - E
• Stakeholder engagement - E

It is key that the successful candidate can demonstrate Achieving  Effective Planning Outcomes - Supplying creative, value for money business solutions for planning requirements and understanding, modelling and explaining planning drivers and outcomes.

Behaviours

We will assess you against some or all of these behaviours during the selection process:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Communicating & Influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Making Effective Decisions

• A self-motivated individual confident in advising on complex projects/policy matters.
• A problem solver with the ability to communicate professional planning knowledge to non-experts effectively
• Ability to work collaboratively with multi-disciplinary teams.
• Confidently engage with stakeholders and colleagues to gain commitment and build trust.

Flexible working hours

The Property Directorate offers flexible working subject to local agreement. This post is advertised as Permanent & Full Time.  The unit is supportive of and encourages flexible working and compressed hours candidates will also be considered.

The successful candidate will need to be available to be at various MoJ sites including London HQ as required and often for 2 to 3 days in a week to attend meetings with Local Authorities, in MoJ offices and/or on site.

We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce and pride ourselves as being an employer of choice. We are happy to accommodate any reasonable adjustments you may require during the selection process. To find out more about how we champion diversity and inclusion in the workplace, visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity

Non-civil service candidates would typically start on the pay band minimum.

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £66,314, Ministry of Justice contributes £18,500 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.