Planning & Highways Lawyer

Our Story:

Halton is a vibrant local authority with a rich history and heritage, featuring two iconic bridges that connect communities across the River Mersey. Located in Cheshire, Halton boasts excellent transport links between Liverpool and Manchester, as well as close proximity to both Liverpool John Lennon and Manchester Airports.

Our progressive community strategy aims to bring about meaningful, long-term improvements that enhance lives. It’s an exciting time to join us as we develop new policies and transform the way people access services.

We are immensely proud that when asked what’s great about working for Halton, the most popular response from our workforce has been ‘our colleagues’.

Our Team:

Legal Services supports every area of the Council, delivering expert advice across a broad range of contentious and non-contentious matters. Within the department, our Corporate and Governance team is responsible for providing practical legal solutions and advice to internal client departments, as well as working with external stakeholders.

We're looking for an experienced and proactive Planning & Highways Lawyer to join our team. Reporting to the Principal Solicitor, you will manage your own caseload of Planning and Highways matters and provide legal advice to officers and members on the Council’s planning and highways functions. You will also advise the Council’s Boards, Committees, Panels, and Groups of Members to ensure that policy and operational decisions are taken on a sound legal basis and in the most effective and beneficial way.

Hours: 37 per week. Hybrid working

Your Contributions:

Our Planning, Highways & Property Lawyer will provide advice to Officers and Members of the Council on all manner of Planning and Highways queries, as well as bringing and defending litigation including appeals, Judicial Reviews, and Statutory Reviews. Possessing excellent communication skills, you will draft and advise on a variety of legal documentation including section 106, unilateral, section 278 and section 38 agreements, as well as ensuring that policy and operational decisions are taken on a sound legal basis.

You will work collaboratively with the Planning and Highways departments to ensure the Council delivers innovative building projects, new developments, and regeneration across the Borough, engaging with external partners and other stakeholders along the way. You may also have the opportunity to engage in Property work where experience and personal interest allow.

Key responsibilities include:

• Providing advice to Officers and Members on statute, case law, and policy for the Council’s planning functions, including development management and enforcement.
• Providing advice to Officers and Members on the Council’s highways functions, including public rights of way, stopping up and diversion orders, traffic regulation orders and any general highway queries.
• Drafting and negotiating property legal documentation to assist with the delivery of housing and regeneration projects and to provide strategic advice in relation to Compulsory Purchase matters.
• Identifying, researching, and anticipating the effects on service provision of new developments in the law to ensure that clients are able to deliver timely and responsive services.
• Delivering training for Members, Officers, and Legal Services staff and to participate in recognised national and regional group activities to improve understanding of legal and service issues and the quality of service provision.

Our Offer:

Aside from working with a great team, our employees have access to a fantastic range of benefits, including:

• A generous annual holiday allowance starting at 34 days per year (including bank holidays), increasing with long service with the option to purchase an additional four-days of unpaid leave for our Annual Christmas Closedown
• Membership of our defined benefit, salary-linked Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) with generous employer contributions
• 3 x Salary Life Cover via Local Government Pension Scheme
• Investment in your personal development
• Free Car Parking at HBC sites
• Flexible working arrangements
• Extensive employee benefits platform including discounted shopping, car leasing, gym memberships, wellbeing hub and Employee Assistance Programme
• Essential car user allowance

Next Steps:

At Halton Borough Council, we want all of our candidates to feel well-informed so if you would like to have an informal chat about this role, please contact Liz Wilson- Lagan, Head of Legal Corporate and Governance at liz.wilson-lagan@halton.gov.uk

This role closes on Sunday 19th July, however applications will be reviewed as they are received and interviews may take place before the closing date. We therefore encourage early applications.

At Halton Borough Council we want to ensure that our communities are represented across our workforce and a vital part of this is to encourage diversity in all respects. We are committed to making our recruitment practices barrier-free and tailored to best suit the needs and strength of the individual. This includes making adjustments for people with a disability, neurodiversity or with long-term health conditions. If you require accommodations, please reach out during the recruitment process so that we can make this the best possible experience for you – resourcing@halton.gov.uk

Please refer to the attached Job Profile for further information about the role and our values.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy earlier than the specified date should we receive sufficient applications. If you’re interested, please complete your application as early as possible.

We look forward to receiving your application!