Applied through

Degree Apprenticeship APC (DA-APC)

Commended

PES and PCS

Qualifications:

MSc Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Birmingham

My career:

My route into planning was somewhat non-traditional, and I often say that I “fell” into planning, though I am grateful to have found a career I genuinely love. I graduated from the University of Salford in 2020 with a BSc in Geography. After completing a PGCE in Secondary Geography at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2021, I realised teaching wasn’t the right path for me. After taking stock, I applied for a planning role at a local authority and was offered the job.

I joined Preston City Council’s Development Management Team in August 2021 as a Planning Assistant, primarily dealing with householder applications. After a short period, I was approached by the then Planning Policy Manager and appointed to a career-graded post as an Assistant Planning Officer in Policy. Alongside this, I was enrolled on the Level 7 Chartered Town Planner Degree Apprenticeship in 2022, completing the MSc Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Birmingham in 2024.

My post in Policy at Preston is where I have truly flourished as a planner, progressing to Planning Officer in 2024. In this role I gained experience across the full breadth of planning policy: supporting the preparation of the Central Lancashire Local Plan, leading on Neighbourhood Planning, housing and employment land monitoring, and overseeing Conservation Area Appraisals and wider heritage work and much more. I also manage a small caseload of Permission in Principle applications, successfully defending two appeals.

Outside of work, I volunteer in committee and chairing roles with the RTPI, Planning Officers Society and the Town and Country Planning Association.

 

APC tips 

Preparing to write

• If there is one word that defined my APC preparation, it is organisation. There are so many moving parts involved in preparing for and writing the APC that without being properly organised it’s very easy to become overwhelmed and lose motivation. For DA‑APC candidates (as I was), this is even more important, as the Professional Discussion requires you to look back over your reflective journal entries that you may have written a year earlier.
  
  
• Find a mentor, ideally someone who is familiar with the APC processes and who will also be a critical friend throughout the process. I’m not sure I would have passed without having a mentor. A mentor can be a compass for your submission and tell you the areas they think you’re hitting the competencies and areas you might need to re-word. Small tweaks to your submission can be the difference in passing or needing to re-submit.
  
  
• Before you start thinking about what to write, how to write or how to format your submission, download and/or print all the guidance for your route and set time aside to read these cover-to-cover. I found it useful to highlight key advice and sections, especially when it came to the competencies and their criteria. My copy of the DA-APC guidance became very dog-eared by the time I submitted!
  
  
• Plan your timeline. This is key to making sure your own timeline to submission is achievable- this avoids unnecessary stress. Make sure to check the submission rounds and work backwards from these dates. It took me about eight weeks of planning and writing excluding lead-in prep time. In setting out your timeline, include mentor check-ins at key points so they’re already your diary in advance, plus these give you targets to aim for!

 

Writing

• Tell your story. Once you select your case studies for the PCS, I found it useful to plan out each of my case studies into a story with a Start (setting the context), Middle (describing the situation) and End (Resolution & Reflection). It’s important to remember that your assessor won’t know who you are, or the work you’re involved in so you need to make sure the assessor can pick up your submission and understand your story and what role you planned in it.
  
  
• Your APC submission is all about you and what you have been involved with. Your written submission should always be written as ‘I’ (across my PES and PCS I used ‘I’ 431 times). Remember, your APC should read as that you’re already working at chartered standards.
  
  
• Mark the competencies as you go. As you write, mark the end of your sentences or paragraphs with as many competencies as you think you hit (e.g. C3a, C2b etc.). This is invaluable for yourself and your mentor when it comes to proofreading your submission and checking you’ve hit all the competencies. Just remember to remove these before you submit.
  
  
• Don’t forget about the other forms. It’s easy to focus on the written submission, but there are other forms to consider- especially the corroborator form. If you’ve moved jobs in the period covered in your submission, make sure you reach out in-good time for the form to be signed! Otherwise, you can’t use that experience in your submission.