Director Of Planning And Place

Salary: £66,021 – 76,716 (Band G)

Location: Grantown on Spey

Job Type: Permanent

Hours: Full time; 35 hrs per week (but part time hours of 30/week may be considered)

Closing Date: 23:59pm, Thursday 14th March 2024

Interview Date: Monday 15th April 2024

About Us:

The Cairngorms National Park is an incredible place to live and work. The UK’s largest national park is home to over 25% of the UK’s rare and endangered species, four of the UK’s top five highest mountains, the largest Caledonian forest and some of Scotland’s most iconic rivers. It is a truly unique landscape and this is an exceptional role for the right person.

Alongside its spectacular nature, the National Park is home to 18,000 residents and over 1,000 businesses, alongside the nearly two million people who visit the area each year. This role is a great opportunity for the right person to ensure that the Park Authority’s key services deliver for residents, businesses and visitors alike.

There are some key issues facing the National Park around affordable housing, transport infrastructure and managing for visitors, and this role will be instrumental in shaping our approach in these areas.

The Cairngorms National Park Authority is a fantastic place to work and offers great opportunities to grow your career. The Park Authority is listed in the UK’s top 100 best not- for-profit companies to work for. We’re dedicated to both this fantastic place and our employees.

We now have an exciting opportunity for a Director of Planning and Place to make a lasting and positive impact to the work of the Park Authority and to the future of this incredible National Park.

The Role:

As the Director of Planning and Place, you will provide strategic leadership, clear organisational vision and long-term direction for the Park Authority on Planning, Rural Development and Visitor Services, and ensure operational effectiveness within these areas.

You will ensure the Park Authority’s Planning, Rural Development and Visitor Services teams provide a high quality service for all external customers and ensure a high standard of corporate governance and service delivery, including financial and staff management.

You will oversee the delivery of strategic partnerships with other organisations and delivery of key programme and projects, with a view to achieving successful implementation of the National Park Partnership Plan and the National Park Authority’s Corporate and Operational Plans.

If you are keen to be the Director of Planning and Place – playing a key role in the management of the Park Authority and the wider National Park – and can display the skills and experience listed here, this is the role you’ve been waiting for.

Equalities:

The Park Authority is an inclusive organisation and we welcome applications from everyone irrespective of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, religion and belief, pregnancy and maternity, relationship status, disability, age and social class. We particularly welcome applications from individuals from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, disabled and LGBTQ+ communities, as they are under-represented in the environment sector.

We are also a Disability Confident committed employer: if you are an applicant with disabilities who meets the essential requirements of the post, we will interview you. In all circumstances, the Park Authority appoints on merit-based evidence that the applicant supplies in meeting the essential criteria for the post.

Park Authority Benefits:

· Civil service pension scheme – some of the benefits include:

- member contribution rates among the lowest in the public sector

- tax relief on your contributions

- generous employer contributions

- a secure, inflation-proof pension for life, with no investment uncertainty

- the option of tax-free lump sum on retirement

- potential access to ill health and injury benefits if you become too ill to work

- life assurance cover

- benefits for loved ones and dependants

- options to increase your pension

- keeping all your pensions in one place by transferring in a pension you have built up elsewhere

- support from our trusted charity partners

· 25 days annual leave, increasing to 30 days with service, plus Public Holidays

· Professional development

· Flexible working

· Cycle to work scheme

· Use of pool cars

About You:

To be considered as our Director of Planning and Place, you:

• Must have a degree or equivalent in a relevant discipline;
• Must have excellent leadership, management, organisational, analytical, interpersonal, communication and negotiation skills;
• Must have experience of developing and implementing policy in any one or more of a number of relevant subjects in the general area of Planning, Rural Development or Visitor Services;
• Must have a good understanding of the Park Authority’s role in delivering the National Park Partnership Plan, and the importance as well as the practical implications of working in partnership;
• Should be an innovative thinker, able to generate or seek out through discussion with others, new ideas and new ways of approaching problems. Must be capable of assessing complex policy issues and developing solutions;
• Must have experience of managing staff with a range of seniority and with different specialisms and be able to foster their further development within the organisation;
• Must have the initiative, vision and drive to develop the role alongside the evolution of the Park Authority, and to make a positive contribution to creating the culture and reputation of the whole organisation;
• Must be recognised as an organisational expert in at least one of these major functional business areas, Planning, Rural Development and Visitor Services, commensurate with providing a lead in these areas for the Park Authority;
• Full UK driving licence or access to driver if disability prevents driving;
• Permission to work in the UK.

More Information

For more information on the post please contact the Grant Moir, CEO on 01479 870509.

How to apply:

To apply, please clink the ‘Apply’ button

Please note, we do not accept Curriculum Vitae (CV).

If you require more information, or if you require any adjustments to be made to the application process due to disability please email: recruitment@cairngorms.co.uk

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