Place Planning Officer

Applications are invited for the post of Place Planning Officer within the Support to Schools Service. You will be the lead officer for the county’s pupil place planning strategy and will join a well-respected team of experts. This is a challenging but immensely rewarding job and provides an exciting opportunity to make a real difference to the lives of children and families in Nottinghamshire. 

The county council has the statutory duty to provide a sufficiency of school places for young people within its boundaries. Since 2012/13, the team has commissioned the creation of around 5,500 additional, permanent primary school places in response to demand due to the rapidly increasing birth rate. The demand for places in primary schools is expected to continue at a high level and this will soon translate into a similar increased demand for places in secondary schools. The team also responds to planning applications for housing developments submitted to each of the seven districts and requests the provision of funding from the developers in order to mitigate the impact of the proposed housing developments on education infrastructure. Twenty-two primary schools are expected to be needed to service large housing developments across the county over the coming years. 

You will be expected to lead on all aspects of pupil place planning and demonstrate high levels of ICT skills and data analysis, using a variety of tools, including standard, county-wide systems as well as having the ability to use standard MS Office products, such as Excel, to report on and deliver findings. 

A sound knowledge of school organisation issues together with the ability to engage and effectively communicate with a variety of audiences from the world of education is essential. The school system is rapidly evolving and the successful applicant will need to maintain a thorough understanding of national and local education policy. The role will require the post-holder to report to senior leadership and elected members at the highest level. 

A proven ability to work with other teams to achieve planned outcomes will be required. Relationships will need to be built and maintained with internal teams such as Corporate Planning, Property Services, Media and Communications, HR and Finance and external links with each of the seven district and borough planning  teams are critical to the success of the team. 

This is a high profile and important role within the county council and one that attracts interest from many internal and external parties. 

For further information, please contact, Mike Sharpe, Team Manager, Place Planning and School Admissions, 01159772803, e-mail, mike.sharpe@nottscc.gov.uk.