We’re recruiting planning inspectors to conduct local plan examinations across England – and we want to hear from experienced planning professionals like you.
Register your interest and be notified when job applications become available.
Show video transcript
- Hello, my name is Rebecca Phillips,
- and I'm reaching out today because we need your expertise.
- Right now, local authorities across England are preparing
- local plans that will shape their communities for years to come.
- These plans determine where homes are built,
- how town centers evolve, and how communities grow sustainably
- As the independent body responsible for examining these plans,
- we need experienced planning and built
- environment professionals to join us as inspectors.
- We're looking to recruit local plan inspectors to help us meet
- the increasing demand for local plan examinations.
- If you're a senior planner or built environment professional
- working in consultancy, in the public sector or in a related field
- like engineering, law, surveying or architecture
- and you have substantial planning experience,
- I'd encourage you to consider this opportunity.
- So what does the role actually offer?
- It's intellectually challenging work.
- You'll examine complex local plans, test evidence, and make independent decisions
- that genuinely matter to communities across England.
- It's flexible. Most inspectors work from home, managing their caseload
- in a way that fits their life, not the other way around.
- And it's supportive.You'll receive comprehensive training, ongoing mentoring and join a community
- of professionals who bring diverse perspectives and experiences.
- So here's what I'd ask you to do.
- Visit our careers site to learn more about the role and to sign up for our alerts so you're the first to know when applications open.
- Join one of our drop in sessions where you can hear directly from inspectors currently working in these roles.
- This is your opportunity to use your professional knowledge
- to make genuinely independent decisions that shape the future of communities across England.
- I hope to welcome you to the Planning Inspectorate one day soon.
Join us as a local plans Inspector
With the application window opening in early 2026, this is a unique opportunity to work in a role where you make independent decisions that genuinely shape communities across England – with intellectual challenge, flexible working, and comprehensive support.
About the role
Local plans are at the heart of England’s planning system. They set out how communities will develop over the next 10 to 15 years, from housing and employment to infrastructure and environmental protection.
As a planning inspector at the Planning Inspectorate, you’ll examine these plans to ensure they meet legal requirements and tests of soundness before they’re adopted. You’ll work independently, assess complex evidence, and make recommendations that shape the places where people live and work.
This is a rare opportunity to:
- use your planning expertise to influence strategic development across England
- work on varied and complex casework
- enjoy flexible, predominantly home-based working with national travel
- be part of the Civil Service with excellent benefits including a competitive pension scheme and generous annual leave
Who we’re looking for
We’re recruiting inspectors at band 2 and band 3 level. We’re particularly interested in hearing from senior planning professionals with experience in:
- local plan preparation or examination
- planning policy and strategy
- local authority planning
- planning consultancy
- related professions such as architecture, surveying and law
If you’ve been involved in local plan examinations, understand the challenges of plan-making, and want to contribute your expertise at a national level, this could be the role for you.
Why now?
Planning reform is a government priority. The government is committed to delivering 1.5 million homes this Parliament and reforming the planning system to support economic growth and infrastructure delivery. Planning inspectors play a crucial role in this mission – examining the local plans that will deliver homes and enable vital infrastructure across England.
We’re expecting a significant increase in local plan submissions from councils. Your expertise will be vital in ensuring these plans are examined effectively and communities can get the certainty they need about their area’s future development.
Why the Planning Inspectorate?
This is an exciting time to join the planning profession. With unprecedented investment in housing and infrastructure, strong sector growth, and the incoming reforms to the planning system, there has never been a better time to be part of shaping England’s future development.
Join us at a pivotal moment for planning:
- Be part of significant growth - this recruitment drive represents the largest expansion of the planning inspector profession in decades, offering you the opportunity to join a growing cohort of professionals at a time of unprecedented investment in the sector
- Shape planning reform - play a direct role in implementing the government’s planning reforms and contribute to delivering the homes and infrastructure England needs
- Strong career development - benefit from comprehensive training, ongoing professional development, and excellent networking opportunities within the Planning Inspectorate and wider Civil Service
- Job security and benefits - join the Civil Service with an 28.97% pension scheme, 25 days annual leave + 1 additional per year up to 30 days , and the stability of a growing profession in a priority area for government
- Work-life balance - enjoy genuine flexibility with home-based working and control over how you manage your caseload, while maintaining a varied and intellectually stimulating workload
- National opportunities - work across England from wherever you’re based, with travel built into the role
What happens next?
We’re still finalising the job specification and will be opening applications soon.
Register for job alerts to be notified when applications open:
We’ll also be running a webinar where you can:
- find out more about what planning inspectors do day-to-day
- hear directly from inspectors about their experiences
- learn about working at the Planning Inspectorate and the Civil Service
- ask questions about the role and application process
Once you’ve registered for alerts, we’ll send you details of when the webinar session will take place.
Show video transcript
- Hello, my name is Johanna Ayres. I'm a planning inspector working in the local plans examination service here at the Planning Inspectorate.
- I'm a solicitor, and in my previous life I specialised in planning and litigation. I'd not intended to specialise in planning per se. I just really enjoyed it. As time went on, I realised that I preferred the hustle and bustle of the development world to spending copious amounts of time arguing over section 106 agreements.
- I understood the litigation and the appeals process due to experience in that field, and I decided that I rather liked the idea of being the person at the front of the room, making the decisions.
- So I changed career, and I came over to be a planning inspector, which was challenging. It's a very different way of working, a different way of thinking. And it involves approaching the world of planning slightly differently.
- However, there's a huge amount of support in PINS when you go through that process, and it's more difficult for some than others. That support continues when you graduate from being an inspector in training through to carrying out individual casework by yourself. In local plans you quite often work on a panel and so you have support there. Likewise with national infrastructure work as well. There's also professional support within PINS, which is exceptional. So whilst it's a challenging change, it's a very fulfilling and rewarding change once you've made the leap.
- So I joined the Inspectorate in 2017. I determined section 78 appeals through written reps, hearings and public inquiries, and carried out some specialist casework as well, all of which I can still do despite working in the local plans examination service.
- I moved into local plans about 18 months ago, because I liked the idea of essentially starting at the beginning, which local plans allows you to do. It takes you right back to the beginning of the process of a plan-led system. And whilst you're not able to make a plan better as a planning inspector — that's not our role — we do use our judgment and experience to consider whether the plan is or can be made sound.
- So by supporting the growth of a plan-led system, we are hopefully reducing some of the section 78 appeals and making sure that those frameworks for development are in place on a local level.
- I don't have a single favourite thing about being an inspector. I don't think that the role is comparable to anything else that you could do, unless you become a tribunal judge. It's very challenging. But it's very rewarding. Whilst the areas that you work within are similar — so if you work within local plans with national infrastructure or appeals casework — the individual cases that you deal with and the individual plans and examinations will vary and they all have their own challenges that you have to grapple with. So it keeps you on your toes.
- So professionally, it's a very rewarding role. I also believe that PINS, frankly, has a fantastic group of people working here, and you are able to create your own support networks and meet lots of very, very supportive people, and interesting professionals. So for me, I suppose it's the work and the individuals that keep me here. Should you choose to apply, I wish you all the very best.
From solicitor to inspector: Johanna’s planning career journey
After years specialising in planning litigation and negotiating section 106 agreements, Johanna made the leap to become a planning inspector in 2017. Now working in local plan examinations, she explains what drew her to the role and why she finds the work so rewarding.
In this video, Johanna discusses:
– transitioning from legal practice to independent decision-making
– the comprehensive training and support available at the Inspectorate
– why local plan examination work is intellectually challenging
– the collaborative nature of panel work
– what she most values about her role and the organisation
Whether you’re a solicitor, surveyor, consultant or local authority planner, your expertise could be exactly what we need.
About the Planning Inspectorate
The Planning Inspectorate deals with planning appeals, national infrastructure planning applications, examinations of local plans and other planning-related casework in England and Wales. We’re an executive agency of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Our inspectors are independent decision makers who work on behalf of the Secretary of State. They’re based across the country and bring expertise from various professional backgrounds including planning, law, architecture, engineering and environmental professions.
Register your interest now to be the first to know when applications open
Questions?
For queries about this recruitment campaign, please contact PINS.Recruitment@planninginspectorate.gov.uk