Introduction

The advice we give to UK planners wishing to work abroad applies equally to qualified US and Canadian planners seeking work here: there is no substitute for being in the country when job-hunting. We suggest that planners take any possible opportunity they can, including holidays, family visits, conferences or short study tours, to visit the country of their choice to research the possibilities. Quite apart from any other consideration, it is usual in the UK to attend an interview before a job offer is made, and this is difficult to organise at a distance. However, in view of the distances involved, we must assume that it will be expensive to organise a short visit, and time-consuming to plan a long one, so the basic research will have to be done while still at home.

Finding potential employers and relevant courses 

To find local authorities in Britain, visit the UK Government's official web-site.  It lists local authorities from A to Z, linking straight in to most of them, so you can get contact details for their planning departments. The Royal Town Planning Institute publishes the Planning Directory. The Directory lists all central, regional and local government authorities which employ planners, plus a number of other official and semi-official organisations. The RTPI Planning consultants web-site lists consultants in the private sector.  UK planning schools are listed in the Education section of this web-site. Many offer short courses as well as full-length undergraduate and/or graduate courses. 

UK geography and place names

You should note that the names of UK local authorities do not always correspond to familiar names of towns, cities and counties. This may make searching a little difficult at first. For example, “Vale of White Horse” is south-west Oxfordshire (towns of Abingdon, Faringdon and Wantage); “Dacorum” is west Hertfordshire (Berkhamsted and Hemel Hempstead) and so on. “London” consists of the City of London, the City of Westminster, and 31 other Boroughs from Barking & Dagenham to Wandsworth.  Greater Manchester covers ten metropolitan authorities including the cities of Manchester and Salford and the Boroughs of Tameside, Oldham, Bury etc.  Details can be found on the AGMA website - the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities.  The Planning Directory (see above) allows searches by region and by name of town or city, as well as by name of local authority.  

Qualification requirements

You do not need a British planning qualification to obtain work in the UK, nor do you need to be a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute. However, if you intend to make your career here, it would generally be expected that you would work towards Institute membership in due course; you will notice that in job advertisements for more senior positions, membership of the appropriate professional institute is often mentioned as a requirement. The Membership section of this web-site gives full details of the membership application procedure.

[Canadian Planners] Special arrangements have been made for planners with full membership of the Canadian Institute of Planners / Institut Canadien des Urbanistes to progress to full membership of RTPI after successful completion of a distance-learning course on UK planning law and practice (follow the references in the Membership section).

Job vacancies

Planning vacancies are advertised every week in Planning, the magazine published in association with the RTPI.   A year's subscription costs £113.  The magazine's web-site Planning Resource carries the same job advertisements as the weekly journal up to the closing date for applications.

Planning topics

The planning area of the web-site for the government department of Communities and Local Government (CLG) carries interesting and useful information on UK planning, including full texts of much important legislation. The policy area of this RTPI site carries detailed information about current planning issues in the UK. The Planning Portal also gives you rapid access to news, documents, detailed guidance and even a glossary of planning terminology from Accesssibility to Zone of Visual Influence.  The Handy Guide to Planning, produced by the Urban Forum with assistance from Planning Aid, is primarily aimed at community or voluntary organisations and would be of interest to anyone wanting a user-friendly guide to English planning. You can download an electronic version.

Education and training 

PlanningMatters is an on-line training resource developed by RTPI to help planners carry out their jobs effectively and continue their professional development. It consists of downloadable training modules on hundreds of topics and a way of keeping track of personal study. You can try out a sample module free of charge and then there are various ways of opening an account to pay for further downloads.

Recruitment consultants 

A number of London-based recruitment agencies can assist in locating jobs in local authorities, property development companies and other employers of planners. The classified advertising pages in Planning magazine carry advertisements for these agencies and consultants. They are particularly good for finding work in London, where there is often a shortage of mid-career planners because of the high cost of family housing. Employment agencies in the UK do not charge the job seeker for their services.

National Employment Register 

[For Canadian Planners only] The RTPI runs a National Employment Register (NER). This is a list of qualified planners seeking work which we make available to any prospective employer. It is open to members (including student members) of the Canadian Institute of Planners. Contact the Member Services Department at the RTPI head office for a registration form. Sometimes voluntary work is available which would assist in gaining experience and contacts prior to applying for a paid position. 

Work experience 

[For US Planners only] The RTPI, the Irish Planning Institute and the American Planning Association run an international exchange scheme for planners every year. US applicants are matched with a planner in Britain or Ireland and each spend two weeks in the other's office, side-by-side with the exchange partner and living in his/her home. It is an inexpensive and, by all accounts, instructive and enjoyable way of achieving a first contact with planners on the other side of the Atlantic. Full details are available in the autumn of each year from the International Affairs Officer of the Royal Town Planning Institute, or from the APA international section.

Advice from personal experience 

Two US planners have written advice to North American planners hoping to establish themselves here; their notes are available on application to the RTPI international affairs officer.

Visas and work-permits

We do not attempt to advise you on the complexities of obtaining a visa and a work permit as individual circumstances vary so widely. You should find out first what the entry requirements are. They may be easier for planners under 26 years of age, and in some circumstances, those under 30 and those with British ancestry.   The UK government may now make it simpler for qualified built environment professionals to obtain work permits as there is currently a shortage. The place to start researching this topic is the Immigration and Nationality Directorate of the Home Office (Interior Ministry), and its Visas and Work Permits divisions. All this is explained on a special Home Office website for people interested in working here.

Author:

Judith Eversley

Publisher:

The Royal Town Planning Institute

Date:

22-May-08

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