Principal Transport Officer (Planning)
Permanent, full-time, 36 hours per week
£52,584 - £55,620 per annum
Advert to close on 9/12/24

About us at Hounslow
We’d love you to join us at the London Borough of Hounslow! Our people are deeply committed to providing excellent services to our residents, doing all we can to make lives as good as they can be.

We are an outstanding council, serving an outstanding borough. With brilliant, visionary leadership, a dynamic Cabinet and a can-do culture, we’ve built strong partnerships which have transformed how we serve one of London’s most diverse boroughs. Hounslow is the world in one place and full of potential. We are stepping up for our residents like never before.

About our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
We live by five core values: Lead with Heart, Do New, Pass on the Power, Harness the Mix and Be a Rock. All our work has equality, diversity and inclusion at its very heart, best articulated in “Harness the Mix”. It's about breaking down barriers between our parts and people and unlocking the problem-solving power of our amazing mix of minds. We serve a diverse community, we have a diverse workforce and we are committed to being an inclusive employer.

We work hard to create representation across our workforce and leadership community, we have thriving employee network groups and our learning and development programmes help us lead, model and breathe ways of working that eliminate inequality, inequity, injustice and bias.

As part of this and under our commitments as a Disability Confident Employer, we make reasonable adjustments to accommodate our candidates. There’s space for you to tell us what you need within our application form.

Our Benefits
If you join us, you’ll have access to a range of employee benefits. Read more about these here.

About The Role
We’re looking for a Principal Transport Officer (Planning) to manage a team that assesses the transport impacts of all new developments, ensuring they support our transport strategy and our values. We want developers to share our vision to make the borough healthy, clean, green, safe and accessible for our residents and visitors. You will work with colleagues and developers, helping us ensure that new developments contribute to delivering our innovative transport strategy and Local Plan ambitions.

Exciting things are happening here in Hounslow! We are a growing borough with ambitious targets for new homes and jobs centred around two Opportunity Areas in Brentford Golden Mile and Feltham. Improving our transport network is integral to this ambition and will help us meet our targets for increasing sustainable travel and improving road safety.

We are committed to delivering our objectives to make Hounslow a cleaner, greener, safer, healthier, thriving and liveable place for our residents. Ensuring people have high quality options to travel is an essential part of this aim. Whether that is encouraging more people to walk, wheel and cycle, or working with partners to improve our public transport network you will be at the heart of our aim to improve health, respond to the climate emergency and reduce congestion.

Our Transport Planning & Road Safety team is central to our success and leads on a wide range of transport planning issues from major strategic transport projects to road safety education.

You will provide expert transport advice on applications for planning permission, working closely with our Planning, Housing, Environment and Regeneration teams to promote active and sustainable travel in all new developments. We are consulted on a wide range of developments ranging from large mixed-use developments in the Great West Corridor Opportunity Area which require significant transport improvements, to regeneration of our housing stock, to small applications from householders. You will have the opportunity to become involved in a full range of proposals as we respond to the climate emergency and look to deliver a sustainable future.

A key part of the role will be to take the lead in working with developers to deliver highway improvements resulting from development, including under S278 and S38 of the Highways Act and other development related works relating to public rights of way and stopping-up orders.

You will also assist in the development, review and appraisal of Council transport policy, the Local Plan, planning briefs, supplementary planning guidance.

About The Team You’ll Be Working In
You will be working in the Council’s Transport Planning & Road Safety team, reporting to the Head of Transport Planning and Road Safety, and will be working with colleagues across the Council to support us in achieving the Council’s corporate and transport objectives.

The team delivers our road safety education programme with the aim of meeting Vision Zero by 2041, working closely with schools and other groups to provide pedestrian, cycling and driver skills and awareness training.

We also work with partners, striving to develop our strategic transport network, improving public transport services and accessibility across the borough and ensuring our transport strategy is embedded in all we do.

As Principal Transport Officer (Planning) you will be a key part of the team.

About You

If the points below resonate with you, we’d love you to apply:

Knowledge and Experience
•Experience providing expert advice to Planning, other council teams, members, local residents and stakeholders and developers regarding the transport impacts of new development proposals.
•Experience presenting to members and the public at Planning Committees, other high-profile committees, public meetings and site visits, and providing authoritative advice on the council’s position on the transport impact of development proposals, often navigating controversial issues and political sensitivities.
•Experience preparing and presenting evidence and acting as an expert witness on transport matters at planning appeals and Public Inquiries.
•Experience negotiating and securing significant mitigation measures including developer contributions via Section 106 towards transport and public realm improvements.
•Knowledge of national and local planning and transport policies
•Knowledge of s278 and s38 agreements and the processes to see these through to completion.
•Knowledge of the Highway Register, Stopping Up processes, and Public Rights of Way.
•Knowledge and understanding of current best practice in the promotion of sustainable transport
•Experience of managing and motivating staff.
•Ability to help train and motivate staff members reporting to the role.

Skills and Abilities
•Excellent written communication skills with an ability to summarise complex proposals into non-technical language and draft clear, concise and accurate reports and deliver these reports at formal meetings of the council.
•Excellent oral communication skills and ability to present information and projects for consideration clearly, concisely and persuasively to a wide range of audiences.
•Experience in successfully dealing with stakeholders and complex projects.
•Experience of managing and motivating staff.

Personal Style and Behaviours
•An open and approachable manner that allows the postholder to engage positively with colleagues, stakeholders and partners, including voluntary & community groups to drive the delivery of projects successfully.
•A calm and clear approach to dealing with contentious and emotive issues and conflict; the ability to persuade others of the merits of a particular proposal.

Read more about the work you’ll be doing in the Role Profile.

Don’t meet every single requirement? We know that sometimes people can be put off applying for a job if they think they can’t tick every box. So, if you can do most of what we’re looking for, go ahead and apply. You may be just the right candidate for the job!

When Interviews Will Be Held And Who To Contact

The key information you need about the role should be in the role profile , but if you have any further questions about the role, please contact:
Email: [email protected]  
Telephone: 07929330396

Interviews for this role will be held during week commencing 16th December 2024.

The interview format will be a 10-minute presentation followed by questions. Further details will be shared with successful candidates who are invited to interview.