Joint Chief Planning Officer

Across Torfaen and Blaenau Gwent in South Wales, our councils are doing something genuinely different. As Wales’ first and only federated councils, we’re pioneering a new leadership model that brings two sovereign unitary authorities together around shared ambition, aligned leadership and collective impact. Both councils are also the first Marmot councils in Wales, embedding a clear commitment to tackling inequality, improving wellbeing and focusing on long‑term outcomes through everything we do.

This is a deliberate, innovative approach to collaboration, designed to unlock scale, capability and influence that neither council could achieve alone. It provides unprecedented scale and mandate for action to work across two distinct boroughs, with refreshing freedom to innovate and the credibility to influence regional and national conversations about how public services evolve.

As the senior professional lead for statutory planning across both councils, you’ll deliver strategic leadership and operational oversight of planning policy, development management, planning enforcement and building control. As well as leading the teams to work to the highest standards, you’ll ensure that spatial planning supports our ambitious regeneration, sustainability and community wellbeing outcomes. You’ll act as lead subject matter expert to elected members and colleagues, overseeing the Joint Local Development Plan and contributing to shaping regional planning priorities.

A qualified planner, you will bring considerable experience in leading planning services or strategic planning programmes, and will have a sound grasp of development management, planning policy, enforcement, and building control. It’s essential that you have a record of incorporating community empowerment and participatory governance in your career to date, and an understanding of the Marmot framework and its application would be a definite asset.

We want to hear from people who want to build something new, operate at scale, and help shape a model of public service collaboration with national relevance. If that catches your imagination, let’s explore the possibilities together.

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To apply:

To apply for this job please click on the Apply button below and fill out the requested information. When prompted, please submit your CV and a Supporting Statement of no more than 1000 words.

With your CV, please also provide the names and contact details of two referees, one of whom should be your current or most recent employer. Referees will only be contacted if you reach the final stages, and we will not contact referees without your permission.

Your supporting statement should express why you are interested in this role and what experience you can bring to the organisation. The statement should tackle the specific requirements of the role; outlining examples and outcomes showing how you meet those requirements.