Friends of the South Downs
Planning Officer (Hants)
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What will you be doing?
The Friends of the South Downs act as a "critical friend" of the National Park Authority, helping it to uphold the purposes of designation and its purpose. To do this, we have set up a network of members focusing on planning and conservation. You would work as part of a volunteer team, with support and guidance from the Chairman of the Friends' Planning & Conservation Committee, other volunteers, and the office team.
Help us keep an eye on and comment on planning applications and work with us on conservation issues. We offer a chance to make a positive contribution to improving your local area. This role would suit someone with a planning or environmental conservation background. The Friends of the South Downs act as a "critical friend" of the Park Authority, focusing on upholding its purposes and duty. To do this we have formed a planning and conservation group made up of members from across the Park.
What are we looking for?
We are looking for individuals with a passion for the environment and the South Downs who wish to help make a difference in and around their local area. This role would suit someone with over three years experience in rural and or town planning. An environmental conservation background would also be useful.
What difference will you make?
We make no bones about it, it's difficult keeping an eye on the thousands of planning applications across the park in all of its 176 parishes. The South Downs National Park Authority processes far more planning applications than any of the other 15 national parks in Great Britain. We believe we've made it easy for people to volunteer a little bit of their time to check planning applications on a weekly or monthly basis. We have divided up the area of the Park into about 25 small 'districts'. Each volunteer checks on their own district. This only takes about an hour or two each week. Our office circulates the planning lists to all our committee members and the District Planning Officer just has to look for the ones on their patch and advise the Chairman of the Planning, & Conservation Committee of any concerns; basically that's it!.
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The role of District Officers is to represent the interests of the Friends in one or more parishes (“Districts”) within the South Downs National Park and in particular in matters relating to planning and conservation.
District Officers are expected to have a reasonable knowledge of their District and an interest in development proposals and general planning matters that might have implications for the special qualities of the National Park. Familiarity with the planning system would be helpful but not essential as District Officers will have appropriate support and assistance from the Chairman of the Planning & Conservation Committee.
District Officers should familiarise themselves with the appropriate Friends’ documents including the Health and Safety Policy for Volunteers. They should provide advance notice to the Chairman of the Planning & Conservation Committee of any significant period of unavailability.
The specific duties of District Officers are:
- (a) To examine the weekly list of planning applications relating to their District in or close to the South Downs National Park, forwarded from the Friends’ office, to identify proposals that may harm the special qualities of the Park or alternatively, which may be considered beneficial to the conservation and enhancement of the Park for the public benefit; (b) To provide a draft response to the Chairman of the Planning & Conservation Committee to submit to the National Park Authority setting out any objections or comments prior to the consultation end date. Other than in exceptional cases, all responses will be submitted by the Chairman of the Committee.
- To provide the Planning & Conservation Committee with details of significant planning applications that give rise to issues of common interest in order that the implications may be discussed and shared.
- Attend quarterly meetings of the Planning & Conservation Committee, either in person or by Zoom, or give apologies where attendance is not possible;
- To contribute to wider planning matters on behalf of the Friends e.g. local plans or major schemes and, on occasion, attend external meetings when appropriate with the agreement of the Chairman of the Planning & Conservation Committee;
- To identify existing and proposed activities and trends in land use that may have a harmful effect on the downland landscape but do not have, or do not require planning permission;
- To potentially attend meetings of the South Downs National Park Planning Committee on behalf of the Chairman of the Planning & Conservation Committee when significant planning applications are being considered;
- To identify appropriate subjects for Press Releases, Downsman and Newsletter Articles, Campaigns etc;
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In addition, District Officers should aid in providing good links with the National Park Authority, its Link Officers and the local Councils to whom planning decisions have been delegated. Good relationships should be cultivated with other organisations concerned with landscape issues in the National Park. District Officers are encouraged to identify projects which it might be appropriate for the Friends to support financially.
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