I started my career at Braintree District Council in 2018 after completing my Undergraduate degree and I am now currently studying part-time at Anglia Ruskin University where I have completed the first year of my Master’s degree in Town Planning.

As an organisation BDC are keen for individuals to progress and they offer constant support both through funding the Master’s degree and encouraging development to on the job training support. In the year I have worked at the Council I have progressed to handle a varied workload including; applications for dwellings and leading on pre-application meetings. In the early days I was encouraged to shadow senior team members to understand some of the larger growth happening within the District and how the process for dealing with larger applications differs from that of the minor applications.

The people who make up the department are friendly and welcoming. I have made lifelong friendships and found it easy to establish myself within the social aspect of the team. I have benefitted from the flexible working arrangements that are offered, including working from home and accruing flexi-time. As I drive to work every day, I also benefit from the free town centre car parking.

I was initially attracted to working for BDC due to its central and well connected location and the exciting level of growth within the District. The mix of urban and rural areas within the District means I constantly have a diverse range of applications to work on, providing me with a well-rounded education of planning. BDC has kick-started my career as a planning officer and I have no doubt I will continue to progress here in years to come.

I joined Braintree District Council (BDC) in 2014 after finishing my Undergraduate Planning degree at Cardiff University. I was attracted to BDC because of the range of disciplines; a rural District but with three main towns to give an urban context together with the opportunity to complete a Postgraduate Master’s Degree in Town Planning. BDC funded the Masters and allowed day release to complete the studies.

I have now progressed to Senior Planner level dealing with a range of complex minors and major commercial and residential development. Early exposure to more complex applications helped build my experience and enabled me to develop. BDC has supported me through every stage of my development which has enabled me to progress my career.

It’s a great place to work with good team spirit, a sense of belonging and a high level of support.

I joined BDC as a Senior Planner in 2015 having previously worked in both public and private sector roles. I was promoted to Principal Planner in 2017 and now take the lead role on a variety of strategic scale major applications across the District, both residential and commercial.

My current caseload includes two major mixed use urban extensions to Braintree one for 1,000 dwellings with associated employment area and the other for 575 dwellings with associated community uses. I am also working on a number of other major commercial and residential schemes which provides both depth and variety to my working day.

Highlights of my experience at BDC to date include instigating a comprehensive Design Workshop process for strategic major applications, where I led a multi-disciplinary team of BDC Officers to enable the LPA to provide a comprehensive, constructive and hands on pre-application process for an applicant’s Developer Team. This process is now being repeated and the ability to actively, constructively and significantly shape such proposals to the benefit of the District is extremely rewarding.

BDC benefits from a forward thinking, commercially minded and energetic planning team where career progression is actively encouraged and support from colleagues is always available. There are numerous major applications to work on and I would thoroughly recommend BDC as a place to work at Principal Planner level.