Town planning support staff Job Information | National Careers Service

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Town planning support staff

Hours

38 per week
Starting salary

£14,000 + per year

The work

Town planning support staff help to process planning applications submitted by individuals and businesses. This is a broad role that includes everything from giving advice to the public, to technical planning and office duties.

As a support staff member, your responsibilities would include:

preparing reports for internal and external publications
recording minutes at meetings
building and managing technical libraries, filing systems and databases
drawing up designs, using computer-aided design (CAD) software
carrying out data surveys, for example traffic impact assessments
supplying information and data to planners for applications
recording the progress and outcomes of planning applications
organising public meetings
answering enquiries about application procedures.

You might also work in planning enforcement, which would involve:

working with individuals and businesses to make sure that they comply with the conditions set out in their application decisions
gathering information to use as evidence in disputes
presenting reports on breaches to planning committees or, where necessary, to magistrates and judges.

You would usually work for a local authority, independent planning consultancy, government department or a private company, for example a property developer.

Hours

You would normally work around 38 hours a week, Monday to Friday, with the possibility of part-time and flexible hours.

You would be mainly office-based, but you may be expected to carry out site visits and attend meetings and conferences.

Income

Starting salaries are between £14,000 and £18,000 a year
Experienced staff can earn between £18,500 and £23,000
Qualified technical staff with supervisory duties can earn up to £28,000.

Figures are intended as a guideline only.

Entry requirements

Most employers will expect you to have GCSEs or A levels, in relevant subjects such as maths, English, geography, IT or economics, or equivalent qualifications.

Specific qualifications and/or experience in surveying, CAD design, construction, information management, administration or law may also be useful skills for getting into this career.

See the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) website for more details about careers in this field, and the Local Government careers website for information about local government planning.

Training and development

You would normally receive on-the-job training from your employer, which may be combined with study for the NVQ Built Environment Development and Control at levels 3 and 4.

This NVQ has optional units depending on your area of work, including:

gathering, analysing and presenting data
administrative duties
preparing charts and graphical information
dealing with breaches of legislation.

The NVQ in Construction Contracting Operations levels 3 and 4 has units covering some of the technical aspects of planning support work.

With a qualification at level 3 or higher, and at least two years' relevant work experience, you could improve your career prospects by applying for RTPI technical membership (TechRTPI). See the RTPI website for more details.

RTPI - Technical Membership

Skills and knowledge

technical drawing and computer-aided design (CAD) skills
a working knowledge of common office software and desktop publishing
an understanding of local and national planning regulations
good maths skills for data handling
the ability to read technical diagrams and maps
strong spoken and written communication skills
good organisational skills
the ability to deal tactfully, calmly and objectively with clients
good teamworking skills
the ability to work to a high degree of accuracy
good customer care skills.

More information

Royal Town Planning Institute (Opens new window)
41 Botolph Lane
London
EC3R 8DL
Tel: 020 7929 9494
www.rtpi.org.uk

LG Jobs (Opens new window)
www.lgcareers.com

Opportunities

Most town planning support staff work for local authorities and consultancies. You might also find opportunities in the planning departments of house building firms, supermarket chains and utility companies.

With experience, you could progress to team leader or move up to technician level. With further study, you could become a fully qualified town planner. See the town planner job profile for more details about this role.

You might find the following useful for job vacancies and general reading: (links open in new window)

Job profiles are based on the latest information supplied to us by industry bodies, such as Sector Skills Councils. Please be aware that with the introduction of the Qualifications and Credit Framework there has been, and will continue to be, changes to vocational qualifications. For more information, please check with industry bodies directly.

We do not accept responsibility for the content of external sites.

Related industry information

Industry summary

The property and planning industry is part of the facilities management, housing, cleaning and support services, and parking sector, represented by Asset Skills Sector Skills Council. The sector workforce, which has continued to grow since 1998, represents 3% of the total UK workforce.

The property and planning industry covers both the private and public sectors and includes: acquiring, planning, surveying and valuing of commercial and residential property; plus valuing, selling, letting and managing of commercial and residential property.

Key facts:

The property and planning industry includes key areas of commercial and residential sales and lettings and property management.
There are 155,300 people working in the property industry in 37,200 companies.
There are significantly more full‐time than part‐time employees in the industry.
96% of all housing and property organisations have 10 or less employees.

Jobs in the industry include: estate agent; letting agent; surveyor; town planner; auctioneer; residential property or block manager; domestic energy assessor; and emerging jobs such as commercial energy assessor, housing energy adviser and community energy adviser.

National and regional data

The following provides a breakdown of the number of property sector employees in each of the Nations and English regions.

Region	Number of employees	Regional key characteristics
East Midlands	9,400	Nearly half (46%) of the property sector workforce in the East Midlands is aged over 50. A higher than average proportion is employed on a part‐time basis (43%)
East Of England	13,100	A significant proportion of the property sector workforce in the East of England is male (53%) and employed on a full‐ time basis (85%)
London	29,500	London is the largest employer of the property sector in England (19%). A significant proportion of employment is full‐time (81%), and a large proportion of the workforce is black and ethnic minorities (17%)
North East	6,300	The North East employs the smallest proportion of the property sector workforce across the English regions (4%)
North West	14,400	The North West employs 9% of the property sector workforce in England. A significant proportion of the workforce is female (61%)
South East	26,500	After London, the South East region is the second highest employer of the property sector (17%)
South West	15,200	The South West employs a significantly higher proportion of males (51%) compared to the workforce across England. 98% of the workforce is white
West Midlands	15,100	The West Midlands accounts for 10% of the property sector workforce in England.
Yorkshire & The Humber	11,000	Compared with other English regions, a significant proportion of the workforce is female (64%) and the majority is white (98%)
Northern Ireland	*	A significant proportion of the property sector workforce in Northern Ireland is female (66%) and the majority (58%) of the workforce is aged between 20‐29 years
Scotland	9,400	Scotland employs 6% of the total UK property sector workforce. Women make up 60% of employees, 98% of the workforce is white, with the majority employed on a full‐time basis (81%)
Wales	4,600	Wales employs 3% of the total UK property sector workforce. The majority, (60%) of the workforce is female and 99% of the workforce is white. Compared to the UK, high proportions are employed on a part‐time basis (36%)

Source: Annual Population Survey, Housing and Property Labour Market Intelligence Update, Asset Skills, 2008
* Due to a low sample base this figure is excluded.