Head of Planning & Enabling North East Yorkshire & Humber

Head of Planning & Enabling

Application closing date: 09/11/2025

Interviews will take place in person: Week commencing 17/11/2025

A bit about the role...

Working within the North East Regional Development Team. The Head of Planning and Enabling will play a critical role in the strategic preparation of a variety of sites for the development market. 

You will be joining our enthusiastic and talented team of approximately  97 people who are committed to making positive change in the housing and regeneration sector to deliver Homes England’s mission and objectives.  

This is an exciting and fast paced role, where you will be leading a multi-disciplinary team of planning professionals (internal and consultant teams) to de-risk and unlock a variety of delivery obstacles to increase and accelerate the supply of new homes across Homes England’s portfolio in the south of England. 

You will have responsibility for all aspects of the planning delivery process throughout the development life cycle, including supporting acquisitions with planning appraisals and disposals with assessments of compliance with permissions and design codes/master plan frameworks.  This will be complemented by associated strong project, programme, budget and risk management experience.

The Development Team is committed to providing high quality in-house expertise and values diversity in experience and perspective to foster good decision making and problem solving within their team. This is a rare chance to lead and direct the relevant Planning and Enabling Team in its future work as part of a fast growing, national organisation with real social purpose. 

Working with key stakeholders and other professionals in the Team and across the organisation you will ensure efficient, consistent and effective site development solutions, including high quality and sustainable planning advice, long term and appropriate place making and commercial outcomes.

The role will support the design and delivery of key strategic projects across the north east, Yorkshire and Humber. There are some ambitious and exciting projects to get involved with and this is an excellent opportunity to balance day to day delivery whilst bringing innovative and commercial solutions to the unique Homes England offering.

A bit about you…

You will be a highly experienced planning / development professional with a track record of leading a team to deliver highly complex planning and technical solutions for a variety of development sites, ranging in size from approximately 100 new homes to large strategic sites with the capability of delivering up to 5000+ new homes.  You will be comfortable supporting the Regional Director with complex delivery issues to meet clear business planning targets. 

You will be educated to degree level in a relevant subject and/or possessing an appropriate professional qualification (e.g. RTPI / RICS etc), you will be proficient in leading a team in the preparation of all relevant planning approval processes, awareness of national legislation and statutory requirements, ability to engage in legal negotiations including S106 agreements and other legal documents, and an ability to communicate in a range of formats, including drafting of papers, detailed risk analysis, value for money assessments and detailed planning reports and appraisals.

Delivering on a mission as bold as ours isn’t always easy. You will be resilient and comfortable managing stakeholders at a senior level and your discussions will always be shaped by a good understanding of the commercial and operational impact of what we do as a development team. You will enjoy working in an innovative, fun and engaging way and be able to negotiate and persuade.

As an experienced development professional, you’ll understand how to manage colleagues and be able to demonstrate you can work with others as part of a team in a collaborative, inclusive way.

Who are we? 

Homes England: The Housing and Regeneration Agency

We believe that affordable, quality homes in well-designed places are key to improving people’s lives. As the government’s housing and regeneration agency, we create thriving new places and transform urban areas, combining the full breadth of our powers, expertise, land, capital and influence to bring investment to communities and get more homes built.

How? We form long-term partnerships that bridge the gap between the public and private sector to meet local needs and aspirations. We use our influence to champion the creation of sustainable homes, communities and places that are brilliantly designed for the people that live there now, and in the future. And we use our funding and support to build a more resilient, diverse and innovative housing sector, helping new entrants in the market, encouraging modern methods of construction and design, and promoting the utmost attention to building safety.

Together with our partners, we’re accelerating the pace of house building, remediation and regeneration across the country, as we seek to deliver ever more affordable homes in places people are proud to call home for generations to come.

What we offer... 

As well as a competitive salary and 33 days annual leave, we are committed to 50/50 hybrid working. We’ll support you, wherever possible, so that you don’t miss out on what matters to you. 

Membership of the Homes and Communities Agency Pension Scheme, which is a contributory defined benefit scheme with the amount you receive on retirement based on your salary and years worked at the Agency.

Internal applicants: please note that if you are successful, the salary you are offered will be in accordance with our pay policy. You can find details on the HR Hub SharePoint site.

If you ever need a bit of extra help, we have a great employee assistance programme, a wide range of healthcare plans, financial wellbeing support and access to many great discounts with leading high street names. 

Our range of network groups are also there to support you to be yourself at work and play a key role in helping shape our future. 

If you are a member of a professional body, we’ll pay for your membership and once you get your digital kit, you’ll be good to go. 

Homes England are a geographically diverse community. We work to a 50/50 office/ home based model. Moving back into our office environments has enabled us to utilise our space and time together in the most collaborative way. 

We would encourage all applicants to apply as soon as possible as we may close vacancies early should we receive a high number of applications. 

We also encourage you to apply using the full application option as opposed to quick apply, this is especially important if you would like to indicate to us that you would like to be considered under the disability confident scheme. 

Our people remain at the heart of everything we do, and we’re committed to building an Agency that not only reflects the diverse communities we serve, but also champions inclusion in how we shape homes and places across the country. For more information about our EDI strategy please see our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Report 2024 to 2025 — Second Edition - GOV.UK

You will be required to have the Right to Work in the UK and Homes England do not offer visa sponsorship. If your application is shortlisted to interview we will require you to provide proof of your Right to Work in the UK at this stage.

Your application needs to be in your own words, reflect your personal understanding and experience, and must not have been generated by AI tools such as ChatGPT.