Planning and Highways Lawyer – Regulatory Team

Join our Regulatory Team as a Planning and Highways Lawyer 

North Northamptonshire Council is an ambitious, exciting, innovative and supportive place to work. The Council is committed to focused service delivery to improve the lives of our residents.

Are you a qualified lawyer looking for a career where your work makes a real difference to people’s lives and communities?  Join our Legal Services Regulatory Team as a Planning and Highways Lawyer and play a key role in supporting the delivery of vital public services across our local authority.

As a Planning and Highways Lawyer within our in-house legal team, you will work on a diverse and rewarding caseload, providing high-quality legal advice to the client service and stakeholders whilst managing risk, resolving disputes, and ensuring compliance with the law.  You will also attend Planning Committee once per month.

As a member of the team, you will be supported at a senior level and by your peers in a growing and developing team of professionals. The team’s focus is on enabling service delivery, to achieve this we adopt a partnering model with our clients, supporting them to deliver an ambitious agenda for North Northamptonshire.

What will you be doing?

We are looking for a Lawyer specialising in Planning and Highways to join our in-house legal team. The role will require you to undertake a caseload of work including:

• Manage a varied caseload of legal matters, ranging in complexity according to experience and under appropriate supervision or direction.
• Draft and review a wide range of legal documents, utilising standard service templates and adapting them as necessary to meet client requirements and expectations.
• Represent the Council at routine hearings, committees (including Planning Committee once per month), tribunals, and other relevant proceedings.
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date records within the case management system, including full time recording, billing and file administration.
• Contribute to the development and continuous improvement of legal templates, precedents, processes, and working practices, promoting their effective adoption across the service.
• Support governance, enforcement, and project-based work, including the design and delivery of training to client departments where required.
• Ensure compliance with relevant legislation, regulatory requirements, professional standards, and Council policies.
• Provide general and specialist Planning and Highways advice on behalf of the Council to clients, colleagues and elected members and senior officers.

If this sounds like a job for you, we would love to hear from you. The closing date for applications is 15th November 2026.  If you would like an informal discussion about the role please contact Louise Delavaloire on 07795 828128

About you

You will:

• Be a Qualified Solicitor/Barrister/FCILEx
• Have evidence of continuing professional development
• Attend planning committees as the Legal Officer
• Experience in dealing with planning and highways matters, with experience in at least two of the following areas:
  • General legal advice on planning and highways matters
  • S106 Agreements – negotiation and drafting
  • Variations to planning agreements under s106
  • Advice on policy, strategy and procedure relation to Planning and Highways issues
  • Seeking advice from Counsel on specialist matters such as Judicial Reviews

Our benefits

Here at North Northamptonshire Council, we’re transforming for the better, using all our creativity and imagination to create the best life for our local people.

You’ll find that we have a wide range of careers that may be more surprising than you think!

Why choose us?

We offer a vibrant working environment with:

• a competitive salary
• a pension scheme, where we pay a significant contribution on top of your contribution. It provides life cover and ill-health protection.
• lots of opportunities to develop your skills, knowledge and potential in a large unitary council
• generous leave entitlement (28 days, rising to 33 days) and bank holidays, plus the option to buy up to an extra 10 days
• hybrid and flexible working arrangements, where practicable for service needs to help you with a healthy work-life balance.

We provide a range of great benefits such as an Employee Assistance Programme, an Employee Benefits Scheme, wellbeing support, travel rates at HMRC rates, as well as supporting a range of active Employee Network Groups.

Closing date: 15 November 2026

For further information or to apply, please click on the ‘Enquire/Apply’ button.