Senior Lawyer - Planning

The starting salary for this role is £55,244 per annum for working 36 hours per week.

Are you looking for an opportunity to develop your career in Planning Law, specialising in planning enforcement?

As a Senior Lawyer within the Highways and Planning legal team, you will work with informed and appreciative client teams. With a varied and interesting workload, you will thrive in a fast-paced environment and be responsible for work that is key to the delivery of the Council's strategic goals.

Our team culture is one which is supportive and engaged. We are frequently in contact with one another on Microsoft Teams and aim to meet in person when possible for team meetings and sociable get togethers.

If you are interested in developing and enhancing your existing skills whilst undertaking quality and diverse work in the planning area, we'd love to hear from you.

About the role

The successful candidate will have conduct of s106 planning agreements, planning enforcement matters and any related litigation, and be required to advise on general planning issues. You will deputise for the Principal Lawyer as required. 

Local Authority planning enforcement work can be challenging, but we will provide training to cover new areas of practice to support you to be successful in the role.

Work location

The administrative base for the Council's Legal Services is Woodhatch Place in Reigate. While the team generally works from home, we aim to meet in person at one of our offices in Surrey and work together there on at least one day a month. Visits to our offices may also be required occasionally for in-person meetings and any coordination regarding work with our helpful and professional legal support team. When the team works from home, we are available to our clients and have frequent contact with one another, including daily slots in the diary for team catch-ups when desired.

About you

You will be a qualified solicitor or lawyer with experience of negotiating planning agreements and planning enforcement, providing solutions-focused and enabling advice, and drafting possibly complex briefs to Counsel.

With an ability to learn quickly about new areas of work, you will be effective in working as part of a team and managing competing priorities to achieve client deadlines.

Your application will also evidence your ability to draft enforcement notices and instructions to Counsel and be responsible for any subsequent appeal proceedings. Representation at public inquiry or court will normally be undertaken by Counsel.

In this role, you will have responsibility for supervising team members working as paralegals and solicitors. However, line management experience is not a shortlisting requirement. We are interested in hearing about your transferable skills and will consider these when reviewing applications.

Should you wish to join a friendly, dedicated and experienced team of lawyers please click the apply button below to submit your application.

Additional Information

This is a rolling advert and applications will be reviewed every 2 weeks.

This post has been designated as a politically restricted post in accordance with the Local Government and Housing Act 1989.

Benefits

• 26 days' holiday, rising to 28 days after 2 years' service
• Option to buy up to 10 days' additional holiday
• A generous local government salary related pension
• Employee Assistance Programme
• My Staff Shop/shopping discounts

For more information about the wide variety of benefits you can take advantage of please visit MyBenefits for Surrey County Council staff.

Our Commitment

Surrey County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. A guaranteed interview will be offered to all disabled applications where:

• The candidate has evidenced the minimum criteria for the role through their application
• The candidate has chosen to share that they have a disability on the application form

Our application form and onboarding process will provide an opportunity to request any reasonable adjustments for the interview and/or the role.

We want to be an inclusive and diverse employer reflecting the community we serve and particularly welcome applications from all underrepresented groups.