Head of Development - Stratford on Avon District Council and Warwick District Council

Thank you for your interest in this important role at Stratford on Avon District Council. This is a critical position as part of the new Senior Management Team across Stratford on Avon District Council and Warwick District Council.

This role covers the areas of Planning, Planning Enforcement, Building Control and Land Charges along with the necessary admin functions. We need the right person to help shape these services to ensure that they are ready for the challenges that the new Council will face. It is expected that the successful candidate would ensure delivery of high quality, effective and creative services across these areas.

About the role

This is an exciting opportunity to help us shape our future. Both Stratford and Warwick District Councils are undergoing significant organisational change and are committed to working together to create a single statutory South Warwickshire Council by 2024. We have an exciting opportunity for a Head of Development to join our senior management team, which will play a key role in supporting the delivery of this transition.

As the Head of Development you will be responsible for a large service, which includes Development Control, Land Charges, Building Control and Planning Enforcement and all of the administration associated with these functions. You will be joining us in a strong position, where both of our Councils have their core strategies, and have a 5 year housing supply plan in place. We have seen a vast amount of growth across the two areas with opportunity to grow even further.

Warwick District Council’s local plan committed to delivering 19000 new homes by 2031, which would mean approximately a 30% increase in the number of households, and the same for Stratford too, which means there is plenty of significant developments on offer and for you to get stuck into. Both Councils receive high levels of planning applications and Stratford has not been outside the top 10 nationally for the last 5 years. You can take a look at Stratford on Avon District Council’s strategy here and Warwick District Council’s local plan by clicking here.

We have also begun our emerging joint plan, which you can find out more here – www.southwarwickshire.org.uk/swlp

This promises to be a challenging and very exciting role with some great opportunities in terms of scales of development. We already have some significant developments underway, which you will help see through, including Long Marston Garden Village, a proposal for 4000 new homes as well as the battery Gigafactory. This is a fantastic opportunity for someone to gain further experience of working across both urban and rural landscapes. We know we have challenges around performance and this is an area we know we need to improve. We need someone who can build positive authentic relationships with key stakeholders and identify opportunities for collaboration which will deliver real benefits.

If you are excited by the opportunity to make a genuine, long lasting impact for the communities we serve, then we want to hear from you.

For a more detailed view of the role, please click here.

Please contact Chantelle Wooldridge, Resourcing Principal Consultant at West Midlands Employers, on 07788 795411 for a confidential conversation about this opportunity.