Principal Town Planner - Zero Hours Contract

Capita; Virginia Water; Remote; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Part time

Job summary

A leading planning consultancy in Virginia Water is looking for a skilled Principal Planning Consultant to lead major planning applications and provide expert advice. This flexible contract role offers an hourly rate and the chance to make a significant impact in local communities and your career. Essential qualifications include membership in the Royal Town Planning Institute and at least 7 years of relevant experience.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 7 years of relevant experience, including proven expertise as an expert witness.
• Experience as a Principal Planning Officer or Consultant essential.
• Ability to negotiate with stakeholders for high quality outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Lead on major planning applications and provide expert advice.
• Process major planning applications and produce robust reports.
• Support the growth of the team by contributing to business development.

Skills

Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute

Proven ability to lead on Planning Performance Agreements

High level of knowledge of current planning legislation

Demonstrable experience working in public sector

Expert witness experience at Planning Inquiries

Full, clean UK Driving Licence

Job description

We’re looking for a skilled and experienced Principal Planning Consultant to join our market-leading Planning Resilience team at Capita.

This is a flexible contract opportunity, open to applicants across the UK and Northern Ireland, where you’ll be paid for the hours you work.

As the Principal Planner, you’ll lead on major planning applications, provide expert advice, and help drive service improvements for our Local Authority clients. With access to a wide range of projects and a supportive team of over 200 planning professionals, this is a chance to make a real impact—on your career and the communities we serve.

This role offers an hourly rate of £23.

Job title: Principal Town Planner - Zero Hours Contract

Job Description:

What you’ll be doing

• Process major planning applications in a timely manner, producing robust reports and recommendations to achieve desired and deliverable outcomes.
• Undertake pre-application discussions on major proposals, some under Planning Performance Agreements.
• Prepare and present evidence on appeals for external clients.
• Contribute to the delivery and improvement of business management systems, procedures and processes.
• Provide support and guidance to peers and more junior staff and ensure contemporary planning issues and legislation are cascaded and understood.
• Support the growth of the team by making a positive contribution to business development, securing repeat work and applying a commercial lens to all work undertaken.
• Provide consistently high quality professional advice on planning matters to clients, members of the public, councillors and others as necessary.
• Negotiate with applicants and a wide range of stakeholders in order to obtain high quality outcomes within given time constraints set out in our contractual arrangements with clients.
• Provide concise, accurate, justified and timely reports and recommendations on major planning applications and pre‑application discussions applying current legislation and policy changes as appropriate.
• Keep up to date with current and emerging policy development at a local, regional and national level so that clients are in a strong position to benefit from existing policies and potential changes.
• Be involved in service improvements and our business operations to ensure resilience competitive edge, efficiency and effectiveness going forward.

What we’re looking for

Essential:

• Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute.
• Minimum of 7 years of relevant experience, including proven expertise as an expert witness at Planning Inquiries.
• Demonstrable experience working as a Principal Planning Officer or Consultant in the public sector is essential; experience across both public and private sectors would be advantageous.
• Proven ability to lead on Planning Performance Agreements (PPAs).
• A high level of knowledge, understanding and application of current and emerging planning legislation.
• Full, clean UK Driving Licence with the willingness to travel to meet our client requirements.

About Capita Local Public Service

Capita Public deliver services and solutions that keep the UK government including local councils running and improving services to the public. Capita Local Public Services (LPS) is a £170m business with 3,000 staff working in a matrix operating model to deliver services to over 50 clients, encompassing both Local Government and Community Health (NHS). Capita has a long and rich history working with Local Government and the NHS and both markets are central to our growth strategy for the next 5 years.

Unlock Your Potential with Capita

At Capita, your career can take you wherever your ambition leads. You are part of a diverse network of talented, forward‑thinking professionals working across a wide range of disciplines and sectors. We’re committed to your growth—offering exciting opportunities to expand your skills, explore new paths, and advance your career.

Join us and discover a career with purpose. #CareersWithPurpose

Customer first, always. Fearless innovation. Achieve together. Everyone is valued.

What we hope you’ll do next

Choose ‘Apply now’ to fill out our short application, so that we can find out more about you.

Equal Opportunities

At Capita, we’re committed to providing an inclusive, barrier‑free recruitment process and working environment for everyone. We are an equal opportunity and Disability Confident employer; we want to hear from you if you’d like to discuss any adjustments you might need during your recruitment process. Please email [e-mail] or call 07784 237318 and we’ll get back to you to discuss.

For more information about equal opportunities and the types of adjustments we can offer, please visit the Capita Careers website.

If you have a question that does not relate to adjustments during your recruitment process, please email our Talent Acquisition team - [e-mail].

Location: Home‑Based - GBR, United Kingdom

Time Type: Part time

Contract Type: Casual