Senior Planning Manager
5 days ago
Wakefield
A well-established Yorkshire division of a major housebuilder is looking for a Senior Planning Manager to lead its planning function. Reporting directly to the Land Director, this is the senior planning hire in the region — responsible for driving planning strategy across a live pipeline of immediate and strategic land, managing a small team of planners, and playing a visible role at board level. • Lead all planning activity across the Yorkshire region — immediate consents, outline applications, and a long-term strategic land portfolio, • Manage and develop a team of two town planners, setting workload priorities and quality standards, • Oversee the preparation, submission, and negotiation of planning applications, S106 agreements, and pre-application discussions, • Contribute to land acquisition decisions — appraising planning risk, identifying allocation opportunities, and supporting the Land Director in site selection, • Engage directly with local planning authorities, consultants, and statutory bodies to progress consents, • Monitor and influence emerging Local Plans, SPDs, and planning policy changes relevant to the region's land strategy, • Present planning appraisals and updates to the regional board — owning the narrative on planning risk and programme, • Work closely with the technical, land, and commercial teams to align planning programme with build and sales phasing, • Support due diligence on potential acquisitions, including assessment of planning history, constraints, and deliverability, • Substantial planning experience gained on the developer or housebuilder side — candidates from consultancy will not be considered unless they have significant client-side or in-house experience, • Strong track record in residential planning, ideally including both outline and detailed applications across mixed site types, • Experience working across both immediate and strategic land — understanding the full pipeline lifecycle, • Used to presenting to board or senior leadership — comfortable owning the planning narrative in a business context, not just a technical one, • Proven ability to manage and mentor junior planners, • Strong negotiation skills — experienced in handling LPA relationships, S106 heads of terms, and appeal management, • Commercially minded — able to translate planning risk into business language and contribute meaningfully to land appraisals Development Manager profile also considered: Candidates with a Development Manager background will be considered where they can demonstrate deep, extensive planning expertise gained across the planning process — not project delivery. The emphasis must be on planning knowledge and strategy, not programme management or build-out. #J-18808-Ljbffr