Service Manager - Planning & Housing Strategy

Lancaster City Council; Lancaster; Hybrid; GBP 45,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A local government organization in the United Kingdom seeks a confident manager for its Planning and Housing Strategy team. This permanent position offers a chance to lead multidisciplinary teams and contribute to significant local initiatives, especially in climate change mitigation. The role emphasizes flexible working arrangements to support work-life balance, and candidates are encouraged to apply from diverse backgrounds for an inclusive work environment.

Benefits

Generous annual leave allowance

Local Government Pension Scheme

Discounted gym membership

Cycle to work scheme

Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience in managing multi-disciplinary teams.
• Strong leadership skills and customer-focused approach.
• Ability to work collaboratively with different service managers.

Responsibilities

• Lead a high-quality, integrated Planning and Housing Strategy Team.
• Collaborate with other service managers to deliver the Council's priorities.

Job description

Overview

The Role

Lancaster City Council is looking for a confident and experienced manager for its Planning and Housing Strategy functions. The role is a critical one, overseeing multi-disciplinary teams including Planning Policy, the Climate Change Policy Hub, Heritage & Design, Housing Strategy and Consultation & Engagement Teams.

It is an exciting time to be joining the team at Lancaster. We are advancing a new Local Plan for the district, whilst the Council is also nationally acclaimed for its innovative work delivering climate mitigation and adaptation. Therefore this role has the potential to make a significant difference to the lives of our local residents and their communities.

Responsibilities

You will be responsible for leading a high-quality, customer-focused and integrated Planning and Housing Strategy Team. You will also collaborate with other Service Managers across the authority in delivering the Council’s priorities.

This is a permanent role working 37 hours per week Monday to Friday and is based at Lancaster Town Hall.

Flexible working friendly – we offer hybrid working, a generous flexi-time scheme, and opportunity to work with your team to establish working hours to enable you to maximise your work-life balance.

About You

You will identify with our organisational values of Pride, Ownership, Working Together and Ambition.

Our Benefits

• Generous annual leave allowance
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• A range of employee benefits including discounted gym membership, cycle to work scheme, the opportunity to purchase extra time off, as well as discounts on days out, activities and retail.

Lancaster City Council has unanimously declared a climate emergency and will therefore work towards reducing carbon emissions to net-zero by 2030. As part of this role, you will be expected to participate and work towards reducing both carbon emissions and the impacts of climate change.

We are an Investor in People, Forces Friendly employer, and an Armed Forces Covenant committed organisation. We welcome applications from defence reserves and other members of our armed forces community. We are an inclusive employer and welcome applications from all parts of our community.

At Lancaster City Council we aim to have a diverse workforce that is representative of the district that we serve and provide a working environment where each employee feels able to bring their whole self to work. We welcome applications from all sections of our community and provide several supportive and inclusive workplace networks and safe spaces for employees to feel connected. Our workplace wellbeing strategy drives our commitment to staff wellbeing initiatives and ensuring that our organisation is a great place to work for all.

We are a disability confident committed employer.

Please note that due to the volume of applications we receive we are unable to update all applicants individually. If you do not receive a response from us within 2 weeks of the closing date, then your application will have unfortunately been unsuccessful in progressing to interview.

Interview date: TBC