Job Description

Organisation: Leicestershire County Council

Work Location: County Hall, Glenfield, Leicester, LE3 8RA

Salary: £36,621- £40,458 per annum (pro-rata for part-time)

Working Hours: 37 hours per week

Contract Type: Permanent

Closing Date: 13th September 2026

Interview Date(s): W/C 21st September- Date TBC

Are you interested in the role that planning plays in delivering infrastructure and supporting communities? Do you enjoy working with data, improving processes and collaborating with others to ensure information is accurate, accessible and impactful? If so, we'd love to hear from you.

About the Role

The Planning Obligations Officer plays a key role in securing, monitoring and managing developer contributions required to deliver infrastructure arising from new development. Working within the Planning Obligations and Systems Team, the postholder will support the coordination of planning obligations from the point of request through to receipt, monitoring and reporting of contributions.

During the initial phase of the role (approx. 12 months), a significant focus will be placed on improving the quality, consistency and completeness of planning obligations and development management data held within the Council's planning systems. Working closely with colleagues within the Planning Obligations and Systems Team and other stakeholders, the postholder will help identify, investigate and resolve historical data issues, improve record quality, and support the development of more reliable reporting and monitoring arrangements. This work will help establish a robust data foundation to support service improvement, reporting requirements and future organisational change, including Local Government Reorganisation.

Alongside these responsibilities, the postholder will undertake planning obligations duties including co-ordinating responses to planning consultations, supporting negotiations, monitoring agreements, tracking contributions, pursuing outstanding obligations and providing information and advice relating to developer contributions. The role requires strong attention to detail, confidence in working with complex data, and the ability to build effective relationships with a wide range of internal and external partners.

An overview of responsibilities includes:

• Coordinate and support the County Council's planning obligations requirements arising from development proposals, ensuring infrastructure requests are accurately recorded and communicated to local planning authorities.
• Lead on the review, cleansing and validation of planning obligations and development management data held within corporate systems, improving the accuracy, completeness and consistency of records.
• Work closely with colleagues to establish reliable data standards, improve reporting capability and support the development of performance information, dashboards and management reporting.
• Maintain and update planning obligations monitoring systems, ensuring agreements, triggers, payments, spend information and related records are accurately captured and actively monitored.
• Support negotiations with developers, agents, local planning authorities and internal services to help secure appropriate and timely developer contributions for County Council infrastructure.
• Identify and progress outstanding developer contributions, monitoring triggers and obligations to support compliance and maximise infrastructure funding secured through the planning process.
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of planning obligations systems, processes and data management practices, helping the service prepare for future legislative, technological and organisational change, including Local Government Reorganisation.

About You

To apply for this post, you must have:

• NVQ Level 3 equivalent qualification plus experience of working in a local authority planning team.
• Experience of working within or with the public sector and be able to interpret S106 or other legal agreements as well as preparing written or verbal briefings or reports
• Experience of effectively working in a team environment but also experience of working using own initiative or with minimal supervision in a front line or customer-focused environment
• Experience of working with numerical or financial data and using IT systems to store, manage and retrieve information
• Experience of conducting successful negotiations in relation to contentious or sensitive matters with the ability to secure and manage funding for infrastructure through the planning process, particularly during challenging economic times
• Experience of Legislation and policy guidance relating to planning obligations, County and district planning responsibilities and Planning application and planning enforcement process

In addition, we also expect you to share our commitment to our values and to delivering accessible and inclusive services which meet the needs of all of our residents. You will be asked to demonstrate your understanding of these commitments as part of the selection process.

Reasonable adjustments will be considered for applicants with a disability. We are a Disability Confident Employer.

Interested in Flexible Working?

We are open to discussions about flexible working, which may include part time working, job sharing, term-time working, flexible start and finish times, and hybrid working, depending on the requirements of the role and the service. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below.

For more information or an informal discussion, please contact:

Mark Johnson, Team Manager – Planning Obligations and Systems

Telephone: 0116 305 3277

Email: mark.johnson@leics.gov.uk

How to Apply

At Leicestershire County Council we’re looking for top talent from all walks of life. Whoever you are, wherever you’re from, and whatever your background - we care about what you bring to our organisation, not just what’s on your CV. That’s why we’ve designed a recruitment process that’s fair, accessible, and focused on potential. And with benefits that support people at every age and stage of life, we make sure you can thrive - both personally and professionally.

If you share our passion to make a difference for the people of Leicestershire, we’d love to hear from you. Click the apply button to submit your application, ensuring that you upload a supporting statement (maximum 500 words) that explains how you meet the criteria listed in the ‘About You’ section above. Without this information, we won’t be able to assess your suitability for the role, and your application will be rejected. For tips on how to write your statement, see the How to Apply section on our career site.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post or you want to request an application pack in an alternative format, please contact our Employee Service Centre by telephoning 0300 3030222 (select option 2) or raising a ticket via our online portal: https://emss.org.uk/support.

By applying for this post, you agree to our Terms and Conditions.

About Leicestershire County Council

At Leicestershire County Council, we're committed to making a real difference in people's lives. Our aim is to work with communities and partners to deliver public services that make Leicestershire the best possible place to live and work for everyone.

Our employees play a key role in supporting this goal and helping us deliver the vital services we provide to the people of Leicestershire. Whether you're starting your career or looking for your next challenge, you'll find a place with us where your ideas are valued, and your work has purpose.

For further information on what it’s like to work for us and the benefits we offer, please refer to the following:

Our Recruitment Process

Our Organisational Values

Our Employee Benefits

Working for Us