Director of Planning and Regeneration

There are not many places in London where you can shape one of the capital’s most popular town centres, lead an estate regeneration delivering more than two thousand new homes, take a Local Plan through examination, and    reimagine three miles of the Thames riverside, all from the same desk. Kingston is one of them.

This is a Royal Borough with real ambition. Cambridge Road Estate is in delivery, with around 2,170 new homes being built in partnership with Vistry. Kingston Town Centre is being reshaped through a programme of public realm improvements, the redevelopment of the ancient market and the arrival of Unilever’s new UK HQ. There is a live partnership with Kingston First, a substantial bid into the GLA's affordable housing programme that opens the door to further estate regeneration, and a riverside that is genuinely one of London's best-kept secrets. The Local Plan is moving towards examination, and the placemaking opportunity across the borough is bigger than the team has yet had the chance to lead on. The Director coming in has the chance to change that.

This is also a borough where planning and regeneration sit together properly. You will lead Development Management, Strategic Planning, Building Control and Enforcement on the planning side, and Placemaking, Economic Development, Business Engagement, Employment and Skills on the regeneration side. The breadth is the point. We want a leader who can hold the technical credibility of planning alongside the creative ambition of place, and who sees the connection between a well-run committee, a confident high street, and a young person finding their first job through one of our employer partnerships.

Because the skills, employment and inclusion side of this role matters as much as the regeneration headline. Working with our university, college and training partners, you will lead the work to build genuine pathways into employment for care leavers, young people with SEND, and others for whom the borough's prosperity has not yet translated into opportunity. It is some of the most rewarding work the role offers.

What sets Kingston apart, though, is not the projects. It is the place. Anyone who joins us will tell you the same thing. This is the most collegiate, cooperative organisation they have worked in. There are no egos, no territories, and no silos. Colleagues across the corporate leadership team work together rather than around each other, and the Director coming in will join a stable, well-aligned departmental management team that has been together for several years and is properly behind this role.

We are looking for an experienced senior planning or place leader, RTPI-qualified or with equivalent professional standing, who brings genuine planning credibility and has either already moved into the placemaking and regeneration space or is ready to do so. You will need to be comfortable working in a committee system, where collaboration and listening matter more than command.

In return, you will join a borough that is proud of itself, in the best possible way. A Royal Borough on the Thames, with one of the best schools systems in the country, a vibrant town centre, a riverside that catches people by surprise, and a council with the confidence to back its ambitions and the maturity to enjoy the work. The role offers a competitive salary in the range of £109,002 to £122,361, an excellent local government pension, hybrid working, generous leave, and a place in a Wider Leadership Team that genuinely supports each other.

If this sounds like the kind of role and the kind of place you have been waiting for, we would like to hear from you.

To find out more, visit our microsite at https://www.leadingkingston.com or join our live candidate webinar with Matthew Essex, Executive Director of Place, on Monday 8th June at 2:00pm.

For a confidential conversation, contact Liam Young, Senior Consultant at Tile Hill on 07760 695867 or liam.young@tile-hill.co.uk, or Dylan Craven, Researcher, on 07442 408861 or dylan.craven@tile-hill.co.uk

Closing date: Midnight on Monday 15th June 

To apply:
To apply, please submit an up-to-date copy of your CV (four sides of A4 maximum), along with a supporting statement (four sides of A4 maximum) detailing your experience, and achievements and addressing the key criteria for the role set out on this site and using examples to demonstrate how you meet the requirements. Documents should be uploaded via our website, please include and upload the below information in two documents only. If you experience any issues whilst applying, please contact matthew.ashby@tile-hill.co.uk

Applications should include:

• Full contact details;
• Names, positions, organisations and contact details for two referees (we will ask your permission before contacting referees);
• Details of your notice period
• Notification of any dates when you are not available for an interview

At Tile Hill, we are committed to inclusion and accessibility. We champion and support all individuals to ensure everyone feels valued, listened to and motivated to get the very best out of each recruitment process and that processes are designed to meet the needs of individuals. If you have any specific requests and would like a confidential discussion with the Tile Hill team, then please email inclusion@tile-hill.co.uk