Trainee Planning Officer, London Borough of Waltham Forest

I grew up in Trinidad and Tobago (recently in the world cup!), an island where rapid development has been occurring over the past couple of years. I came to understand for myself how important it is to develop sustainably, rather than just looking at development purely from the developer’s perspective of putting down structures to return rapid profits. From looking at the better-developed regions in Trinidad - crime free and flourishing - compared to the more grotty areas with increased crime, all because of the lack of proper planning and design, I could see a niche where I could have a positive role. 

I find that the opportunities that planning gives to deal with the public and to make a physical difference to our surroundings very exciting.

I have a BSc in Biological Sciences (2:1) from King’s College, University of London.  In 2005, I was awarded a traineeship with Positive Action Training Highway (PATH) National’s Tomorrow’s Planners programme. PATH National is a skills development agency that aims to address under-representation and inequalities of black and minority ethnic groups in management and the professions.  I was accepted to train at Waltham Forest Council in the Planning Policy team. 

Initially, it meant I was doing A LOT of reading, familiarizing myself with the Borough’s Unitary Development Plan policies, national policies, the London plan and basically just absorbing as much planning information as I could. Though this is a constant educational process, once I was over that initial hurdle, my main focus changed to working on the Borough’s Statement of Community Involvement (SCI). I was given a lead role in getting the ball rolling on the SCI process. From the start, I’ve been instrumental in doing the majority of the research to inform our work, create an evidence base and learn from the mistakes of other boroughs already deep into their SCI work. I have contributed to writing sections within the document and editing the complete version preparing it for submission. And now coming to the end, I definitely feel that ‘my baby’ (the SCI) is growing up. With the SCI pretty much completed, work has begun on the Core Strategy programme, so yet another baby to bring up!

In addition to the SCI work, I regularly provide policy comments for regular planning applications on a wide range of planning topics. My supervisor has steadily been monitoring the applications I comment on to ensure I gain exposure to a wide variety of planning issues, from the small to the more complicated and demanding ones, all under his watchful eyes of course! 

In September 2006, I embarked on the RTPI-accredited MSc in Spatial Planning at University College London. I am doing this part time on day release for 2 years while working 4 days a week at Waltham Forest. So far, it has been interesting, and I definitely feel like we are being stretched to the limit. This semester, we’ve done two modules; pillars of planning and urban design. Of the two, urban design has definitely given me a whole new spin on planning. It has helped me realise that planners are meant to be all rounders. 

I am anxious to become a Chartered Town Planner with the aim to work in the public or private sector both in England and abroad. My desire is to integrate lessons learnt from as wide a field as possible, learning from the UK ‘s system and other international schools of thought to broaden my understanding of planning and to ensure that, wherever I can make a difference, it would be the most well informed, intensively creative and practical difference I could make. I see my career as a continuous learning curve with unlimited potential. With the exposure I should attain from this traineeship in every aspect of planning, this should arm me with enough ammunition to put me in line to move up the professional ladder to management positions in the field.

My advice to anyone considering a career in planning is that it is not as dull as you may think! The issues you deal with vary immensely, from the environment to housing issues, community needs, and the list goes on. You can really feel like you’ve made a difference in society. That feeling alone is exhilarating. Whatever you have an interest in, there is bound to be some form of correlation with planning. Just give it a chance!

Author:

Dushy Large

Publisher:

The Royal Town Planning Institute

Date:

11-Jan-07

Categories:

Planning as a Career 

Sections:

Education & Careers

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