Town Planner (Infrastructure Planning)

WSP in the UK & Ireland; Manchester; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

WSP is seeking an experienced Senior Consultant to join its Infrastructure Planning Team in the UK. You will support town planning and consenting inputs on major and nationally significant infrastructure projects, working within multi-disciplinary teams.

The role requires a degree in town planning (or equivalent) and RTPI eligibility. You will engage with stakeholders, provide technical guidance to project managers, and contribute to successful consents across DCOs, DNSs and related processes.

Qualifications

• Degree level qualification in town planning (or equivalent).
• Member of (or eligible for) the RTPI.
• Experience preparing planning applications for infrastructure projects.
• Experience providing technical advice to project managers.
• Liaison with statutory bodies and stakeholders.
• Ability to work across multiple disciplines and teams.

Responsibilities

• Prepare Town & Country Planning Act applications for infrastructure projects across the UK.
• Provide consenting inputs on major projects (DCOs, DNSs, TWAOs).
• Advise project managers on technical requirements to support client needs.
• Liaise with statutory bodies and stakeholders to help deliver projects.
• Engage with teams across disciplines to build strong relationships.
• Develop own knowledge and contribute to the team’s knowledge base.

Skills

Town planning

Consenting processes

Stakeholder engagement

DCOs/DNSs/TWAOs

RTPI member

Education

Degree in town planning (or equivalent)

Job description

Job Description

What if you could do the kind of work the world needs? At WSP, you can access our global scale, contribute to landmark projects and connect with the brightest minds in your field to do the best work of your life. You can embrace your curiosity in a culture that celebrates new ideas and diverse perspectives. You can experience a world of opportunity and the chance to shape a career as unique as you.

Job Description

What if you could do the kind of work the world needs?

At WSP, you can access our global scale, contribute to landmark projects and connect with the brightest minds in your field to do the best work of your life. You can embrace your curiosity in a culture that celebrates new ideas and diverse perspectives. You can experience a world of opportunity and the chance to shape a career as unique as you.

What if you could do the kind of work the world needs?

At WSP, you can access our global scale, contribute to landmark projects and connect with the brightest minds in your field to do the best work of your life. You can embrace your curiosity in a culture that celebrates new ideas and diverse perspectives. You can experience a world of opportunity and the chance to shape a career as unique as you.

WSP is an award-winning consultancy that employees the largest number of chartered town planners across the UK, operating within both the infrastructure and property markets. In December 2025 WSP won the RTPI’s Planning Consultancy of the Year with judges commending the Team for their excellence in uniting diverse disciplines to achieve outstanding results, praising the team's strong community engagement.

It has never been a more exciting time to join WSP’s market-leading Infrastructure Planning Team. Our success is built on employing highly skilled consenting specialists that have experience in serving a diverse portfolio of clients in the energy, renewables, nuclear, net zero, water, rail and transportation and aviation sectors. We work at all stages of the consenting process from early feasibility, application preparation and delivery of consents through construction and on a variety of projects across sectors.

With notable contract and framework awards from National Grid as part of the Great Grid Partnership as well as awards from many other clients, we have a great foundation for growth in 2026.

Our key clients include National Grid as part of the Great Grid Partnership, National Gas as part of Project Union, Nuclear Waste Services, EET Fuels, Eni UK, SSE, Scottish Power Renewables, Severn Trent Water, Southern Water, United Utilities, Yorkshire Water, and many more.

To continue to sustainably grow as a business, we are looking for an experienced Senior Consultant to join our team to support town planning and consenting inputs on major and nationally significant infrastructure projects. The successful candidates will have demonstrable experience of working within multi-disciplinary teams to secure consent and approvals for major or nationally significant infrastructure projects via the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, Planning Act 2008 and Transport and Works Act Order. We are also interested to hear from people that have experience in securing consents for major projects by means of the Planning (Wales) Act 2015, Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act, or the Electricity Act.

To find out more about our Infrastructure Planning business click on the following link and discover what awaits you at WSP: Infrastructure planning and consulting | WSP

What We Will Be Looking For You To Demonstrate…

• Help prepare Town & Country Planning Act applications for infrastructure projects across the UK.
• Support providing consenting inputs on major infrastructure projects (DCOs, DNSs, TWAOs etc)
• Assisting with providing technical advice to project managers to support client's requirements.
• Supporting liaison with statutory bodies and stakeholders on behalf of clients to help deliver projects.
• Ability to engage with teams across a variety of disciplines, building positive relationships within the team.
• Proactively engages with developing own knowledge and skills to build ability and team’s internal knowledge base.
• Degree level qualification in town planning (or equivalent).
• Member of (or eligible for) the RTPI.

Imagine a better future for you and a better future for us all.

Join our close-knit community of talented individuals who share your passion for making a positive impact. Our global team includes more than 69,000 employees, working together to make a difference in communities both close to home and around the world.