Team: Planning Academy 
Job family: Advising - CBG7
Salary: £24,496 - £26,845 per annum
Hours: 37 hours a week (day release for University studies) 
Location: Working from home and any CBC offices, including Priory House, Shefford. You will be
expected to attend a CBC office location on a monthly basis, and as needed to carry out your role 
Contract type: Hybrid - Permanent 
Closing date: 30th June 2023 
Interview date: 20th July 2023 

About Us 

Central Bedfordshire is an ambitious authority, determined to be an exemplary one. Our strategic location and high quality of life mean we are one of the fastest growing areas in the country.  

As a council we face the same challenges every business does - investing in the right places and delivering great results. Except for us, it’s all about our 289,000 residents. We’re totally focussed on helping to improve their lives and making Central Bedfordshire a great place to live and work.  

We have set values and principles to represent the way we work and how we operate as an organisation. You can view a list of these in detail on our website. 

This is a great time to join us on our journey. 

More about the role:

This is a great place to start your planning career. The Council has an ambitious agenda with significant growth planned over the next 20 years planning for up to 20,000 homes and 24,000 jobs. 

To help deliver our growth agenda we have a number of exciting trainee roles in our Planning Academy Team. These have been designed to give you a structured, supported, approach to developing your skills, knowledge and experience within a planning environment. Please visit our website to find out more about our Planning Academy and hear from colleagues

We are looking for enthusiastic and highly motivated candidates who are interested in shaping the places and communities of the future. If that’s you, then we would love to hear from you! You don’t have to have any work experience or a formal specialist qualification as we will fully support you to achieve this. Through funding and support we will enable you to study for a relevant qualification to become a chartered town planner.  

To apply you will need to have an interest in planning, ideally achieved or be completing a degree in a relevant subject (although not necessarily essential), and hold a valid driving licence and have access to a car as travel is essential.  

If your application is successful we will be inviting you in to meet us for a full day event at Priory House on Thursday 20th July 2023.  

What we can offer you

As well as joining a friendly, dedicated, and hardworking team you will have access to numerous benefits, including:

• A hybrid working arrangement giving you the option to work from home and access any CBC office location. We recognise and value the importance of supporting our employees to balance their home and work life and to be able to work in the most efficient way.
• A £250 one-off hybrid worker payment to help you adapt your home for safe and suitable working conditions
• A comprehensive IT package to support you to work safely and effectively
• The ability to work abroad for up to a month a year
• Generous family friendly policies and practices
• A welcoming and inclusive environment that empowers differences
• Friendly and supportive staff networks 
• Annual leave allowance 24 days + statutory holidays rising to 31 days with length of service.
• Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). This is a valuable part of our rewards package for employees and includes Life Assurance. You can find out more on the Bedfordshire Pension Fund website.
• An exceptional Employee Assistance Programme which helps support employees with workplace changes as well as other work, family and personal issues
• A huge variety of courses and role-specific training and learning to help you succeed and develop
• Access to discounts on top UK retailers and local retailers

Central Bedfordshire Council has its own vision and values that are integral to everything we do. Our area vision is to make Central Bedfordshire 'A great place to live and work’.

Sustainability matters to us. We aim to lead by example in tackling climate change. Read more about the action we’re taking on our website: Climate change – tackling it and our strategy

Our aspiration is to be a truly flexible employer.  We welcome discussion on location, hours and working pattern as part of the application process.

You will be expected to demonstrate how you meet the key accountabilities and competencies detailed within this Recruitment Pack 

For an informal discussion about this position, please contact: Lisa Newlands at lisa.newlands@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk or call 0300 300 4185.

For queries related to the recruitment of this vacancy, please contact: The Recruitment Team at recruitment@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk

Central Bedfordshire Council is an equal opportunities employer. We are committed to improving the diversity of our workforce to better reflect the communities we serve.  Therefore, we welcome applications from everyone. In addition, we are a Disability Confident employer, we are working to become a Disability Confident leader in our community.

To maintain a fair and consistent approach for applicants, it is Central Bedfordshire Council's policy to only consider applications made via our online application system and we therefore thank you for not submitting your application offline.

If you require assistance to apply for our roles, help with writing your CV, interview techniques or careers advice please contact our team of careers advisors at ncs@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk Our service is confidential, impartial and free for all.