Australian and NZ planners

The advice we give to UK planners wishing to work abroad applies equally to qualified Australian and New Zealand planners: 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 or conferences, to come here 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. Friends and family connections may also be influential in deciding which parts of the UK would interest you. That said, in view of the distances between the UK and New Zealand/Australia, we assume that it will be expensive to organise a short visit, and time-consuming to plan a long one, so some of the basic research will have to be done while still at home.

Formalities

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, as well as those who have British ancestry. In addition, the UK government has now made 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 web-site for people interested in working here. 

Contacts

If you would like to work in a specific geographical area, you can locate and browse the official site for the relevant authority or via Oultwood. There is also a direct link to employment vacancies in local government. 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 (see the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities website). Useful maps are available. The RTPI Planning consultants website lists consultants in the private sector.

Qualifications and RTPI Membership

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. We publish full information about qualifications and membership in the membership section of the RTPI website. The membership section of the website lists planning schools offering RTPI-accredited courses. Many offer short courses as well as full-length undergraduate and post-graduate courses. It also explains special arrangements for recognition of New Zealand and Australian planning qualifications, including the opportunity to progress to full membership of RTPI after successful completion of a distance learning course on UK planning law and practice. 

Further information

Frequently asked questions about RTPI Membership

RTPI Knowledge provides a commentary on new and proposed government legislation and carries regular reports on UK planning policy and practice, as well as detailed information on such issues as sustainable development.

RTPI Networks are another good source of information on more detailed topics for example, if you have a special interest in urban design, regeneration, transport or environmental planning and protection, theres an RTPI Network with relevant information, some of it accessible to non-members. 

The planning area of the website for the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) carries interesting and useful information on UK planning, including full texts of much important legislation, briefings, news and practical guidance. The Planning Portal also gives you rapid access to news, documents, detailed guidance and even a glossary of planning terminology from Accessibility 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. Download.

Where are the vacancies?

There are usually temporary vacancies for qualified planners in the London boroughs and elsewhere in the South-East of Britain where employers find it hard to retain staff: the high cost of buying family houses drives middle-ranking planners out of the capital when they need more living space or a garden. Alternatively, they may move their family out of the capital but continue to work there, experiencing long commuter journeys as a consequence. Rented accommodation is available, though the cost of that, too, is high. The compensation is the world-class menu of arts, culture, pubs, clubs, dining and sport on offer. Public sector salaries have a supplement (London Weighting) to reflect the higher increased cost of living in the capital.

Planning vacancies are advertised every week in Planning, the magazine published in association with the RTPI to which anyone can subscribe: write to Planning, PO Box 270, London UB1 2WF. Planning Resource, from the same publishers asPlanning magazine, is an on-line planning newsletter carrying the same job advertisements as the magazine.

National newspapers (The Guardian, The Independent, The Timesand the Daily Telegraph) print advertisements for public-sector appointments one day a week for example, the Society supplement to The Guardian comes out on Wednesdays. 

The RTPI runs the National Employment Register (NER), a database of qualified planners available for work. Potential employers with a vacancy ask the Institute to search the NER especially when the job is a short-term one which does not justify an expensive national advertisement. Members of PIA and NZPI are admitted to the NER on the same basis as RTPI members. Please ask the Member Services department at 41 Botolph Lane, London EC3R 8DL for details and an application form.

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.

The RTPI encourages, but does not itself arrange, exchanges between its own members and those of NZPI and PIA. Advice on exchanges is available in a briefing from the RTPI International Affairs Officer.

Revised June 2012