Highway Inspector
About the job
Salary: £33,143 – £36,363 a year plus £963 essential car user allowance
Hours per week: 37
Contract type: Permanent
As a Highway Inspector at Luton Council, you will play a vital role in maintaining the safety and condition of the borough’s highways. You’ll undertake a scheduled programme of inspections across carriageways, footpaths, kerbs, and street furniture, identifying defects and ensuring timely and effective maintenance in line with our safety standards and priorities.
You will be responsible for assessing newly adopted roads, responding to public service requests, investigating complaints and accidents related to the highway network, and preparing accurate inspection records. When necessary, you may attend site visits with claimants and represent the council in court as a witness.
Your duties will also include monitoring nearby building works to prevent highway damage, carrying out enforcement against obstructions or unauthorised uses of the highway, and identifying areas requiring weed treatment for submission to the Cleansing Manager.
Additionally, you'll supervise on-site works, ensuring they meet contract specifications, monitoring contractor performance, and confirming that invoicing reflects completed work. In periods of adverse weather, you will inspect high-risk areas and arrange for appropriate remedial action.
This is a key role in ensuring the safety, accessibility, and long-term upkeep of Luton’s highway network. You may also be required to attend emergency situations outside of normal working hours.
Please note this role does not attract sponsorship.
About you
You’ll bring a solid background in highway maintenance, with demonstrable experience of construction materials and standards relevant to this field. Ideally, you’ll have some experience in site supervision, particularly within a maintenance environment.
Confident in your communication skills, you’ll be able to consult, negotiate, and work effectively with a range of stakeholders both inside and outside the Council, gaining their commitment to shared goals. You’ll also have strong analytical skills, with the ability to collate and interpret information, carry out straightforward calculations, and draft clear, factual reports and correspondence.
Organised and dependable, you’ll be able to manage your workload to meet tight deadlines and service demands, working independently and as part of a team. You’ll be comfortable using word processing and spreadsheet software, and you’ll demonstrate a clear understanding of the importance of equality, diversity, and the impact of discrimination on service delivery.
You’ll also have a sound knowledge of relevant legislation, including the Highways Act, New Roads and Street Works Act, and Health & Safety regulations relating to highway maintenance. A BTEC in Civil Engineering (or equivalent qualification, training, or experience) is essential.
The role requires the ability to visit and navigate sites across the Borough daily, including accident locations, and to attend meetings or emergencies outside of normal working hours when required.
This is a public facing role so you’ll need to show off your fluency in speaking and writing English.
About us
Our ambitious Luton 2040 Vision – that no-one in Luton will have to live in poverty – is at the heart of everything we do. We recognise that our people are remarkable, talented, committed and passionate about serving our residents.
The people of Luton depend heavily on this council – and that means our workforce! Are you ready to realise the remarkable and help us deliver our vision?
We welcome applications from all sections of the community and are committed to developing a workforce that reflects the diversity of our borough
Application Process
On occasions, we may close a vacancy early due to a very high number of applications being received.
Benefits
We offer a range of excellent staff benefits which include:
- From 25 to 32 days’ annual leave: linked to length of service and grade
- Buying annual leave scheme: buy up to 20 days additional annual leave
- Career Pathways: step up in your career or move into a specialist area
- Pension scheme: with generous employer contributions of up to 20.2 per cent (at July 2023) and 3x salary death in service grant
- Generous relocation package: up to £8,000 (subject to eligibility)
- Employee Assistance Programme: a free, 24/7 confidential counselling and wellbeing support service available to all employees, their partner or spouse and dependent children over 16 still living at home
- Work/life balance: flexible working options including working from home where possible. We welcome requests for flexible working arrangements including part-time hours and alternative working patterns
- Training and support: unlimited access to development courses, mentoring and support and clear career pathways
- Staff offers: includes discounts on your MOT, gym and fitness, restaurants and salons
- Arriva Travel Club: great value savings on local bus travel
How to apply
We understand that job applications take time and effort, but a high-quality application shows that you are professional with a good attention to detail. The recruiting manager may receive a number of applications for each job advertised so you want yours to stand out!
Our ‘How to apply' page has more tips to help with your application: How to apply
Available documents
Attached documents are available under links. Clicking a document link will initialize its download.Salary range
- £33,143 - £36,363 per year