London Borough of Camden

Introduction

Comprising 11 square miles in the heart of inner London, Camden is a borough of immense contrast and diversity.  The business centres of Euston, Tottenham Court Road and New Oxford Street sit along side the residential districts of Hampstead and Highgate and the culture hotspot of Camden Town.  Its population of more than 200,000 includes extremes of wealth and poverty, making Camden one of the few authorities in the country to appear in both the indices of greatest wealth and greatest deprivation. 

The Council's Planning Service therefore has an important role to play in shaping the future of the borough.  The Council's strategic planning goals are to meet the boroughs housing needs particularly for affordable housing.  It also works to promote a more sustainable environment which reduces the need for travel, especially by car, support its town centres, increase access to employment, and improve the quality of life in the borough.  The service has been active in promoting high quality design in new developments and in its public spaces. 

The Planning Division at Camden employs approximately 150 people.   The largest team is Development Control which processes a wide range of development proposals including complex cases in a central London location.  This is supported by a well resourced Conservation and Urban Design Team, which provides specialist advice as well as being responsible for the 39 conservation areas and 5000 listed buildings across the borough, and a recently expanded Enforcement Team.   

The Forward Planning and Project Team formulates the Council's statutory land use and transport policy, provides key inputs to corporate policy making, research and implementation, and contributes to regeneration projects and the development and implementation of Community Strategy objectives.

As a central London borough, jobs at Camden have always attracted many applicants seeking interesting and varied job opportunities.  These vary from day release students, jobs for graduate planners, experienced technical officers right through to management opportunities.  Specialist skills such as design and sustainability are particularly needed in this challenging and interesting part of central London. 

Camden operates a highly regarded career grade planner scheme.  This enables graduate planners to experience the different aspects of planning including development control, policy and implementation.  The service also has an established programme to develop professional staff through internal seminars and customised training on both emerging planning issues and core work skills.  This is supplemented by an annual individual training plan for every staff member identifying individual needs as well as core service objectives. 

Camden also has a commitment to develop specialist skills such as urban design and sustainable development, delivered usually  through a day release programme for those seeking to expand their skills base. 

Camden has a rich and diverse population and particularly welcomes applications from all sections of the community.   Employment benefits include a Zone 1 and 2 travel card for all planners and a market factor supplement for those who are senior planners and managers.  This is in addition to a generous annual leave package and pension contributions.