Job Introduction
Job Title: Health Places Planning Officer
Starting Salary: £42,839 progressing to £47,181 per annum (pro rata for part time)
Hours: 37
Location: Stevenage - Hybrid
Contract Type: Fixed Term Contract - 1 year
Directorate: Public Health
About the team
This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced spatial planner to join our Healthy Places and Communities Team in Public Health. We are looking for a highly motivated, enthusiastic, and organised person, who can ensure consistent high levels of support. You will join a friendly, dedicated and inclusive team of public health professionals, where you will develop your professional knowledge in Healthy Place-making and have the opportunity to influence planning across Hertfordshire.
The Healthy Places & Communities Team is in the Public Health directorate of Hertfordshire County Council. It brings together the Healthy Places and Adult Health Improvement agenda to focus on improving the environment for Hertfordshire residents through promoting healthier air, healthy homes and healthy street environments, good access to green spaces, opportunity for active and sustainable travel alongside services that promote healthy lifestyles such as healthy weight, smoking cessation, health checks and culturally supportive programmes such as physical activity programmes to improve everyday lives.
The role is a key link between Public Health and Growth and Environment directorates within Hertfordshire County Council and works in partnership with all 10 district and borough council planning teams to embed health principles into local plan policies. The postholder will support the Hertfordshire Growth Board mission on ‘Healthy and Safe places’ and provide feedback on consultations (national / local) and planning applications applying a health and sustainability lens.
About the role
Help shape healthier, greener and more resilient communities across Hertfordshire. We’re looking for someone who’s motivated, curious and ready to make a real impact on the places where people live, work and travel.
In this role, you’ll provide public health expertise across a range of exciting Healthy Places workstreams—spanning spatial planning, cleaner air, active travel, climate action, healthy homes, and improving access to nutritious food. You’ll influence Local Plan reviews, lead Health Impact Assessment quality assurance, and ensure that health is embedded into the design of new developments and local policy decisions.
No two days will be the same. You’ll work in a fast‑paced, multi‑disciplinary environment, balancing strategic input with hands‑on project delivery. Strong organisational skills and the ability to prioritise a varied workload—including managing a busy inbox—are key.
Collaboration sits at the heart of this role. You’ll work closely with colleagues across Hertfordshire County Council—such as Growth & Infrastructure, Sustainable Hertfordshire, Highways and the Environment team—as well as external partners across public, private and community sectors. Your ability to build positive relationships and work collectively will be essential in driving forward shared priorities for healthier places.
You’ll also lead specific projects within the Healthy Places programme, ensuring they have strong business cases, robust governance, and clear, measurable benefits.
We are seeking a planner with a strong interest in creating high quality places that enable healthier lifestyles, support thriving communities and contribute towards reducing health inequalities.
If you’re passionate about improving population health through better environments—and have a solid understanding of the Healthy Places agenda—we’d love to hear from you.
About you
Essential:
- Degree in Planning (or a closely related planning field).
- Strong attention to detail, supporting the effective delivery of the Health in All Policies agenda across Hertfordshire.
- Experience working in environmental health and/or planning and development, with a strong understanding of how place impacts population health.
- Good understanding of Local Government Planning and Public Health systems, including relevant processes, policies and statutory requirements.
- Awareness of NHS and local government structures, cultures and decision‑making processes.
- Ability to provide innovative and effective solutions to complex or challenging issues.
- Experience in developing and implementing new processes or procedures to improve efficiency and service outcomes.
- Proven ability to prepare detailed reports, consultation responses and evidence‑based recommendations to support planning and public health priorities.
- Strong collaboration skills, with experience working across internal and external teams to achieve shared goals.
- Effective presenter, confident engaging with partners, committees and stakeholders.
- Strong organisational and interpersonal skills, with the ability to prioritise workloads in a fast‑paced, multi‑disciplinary environment.
- Experienced in project and stakeholder management, coordinating multiple workstreams and maintaining positive relationships.
- Ability to work effectively both independently and as part of a multi‑disciplinary team.
- Strong IT literacy, with proficiency across Microsoft Office applications.
We welcome applications from candidates who currently reside in the UK with established proof of right to work documentation. We are not able to offer sponsorship at this time for this role.
This job role is within the Health & Social Care, level 11 job profile. Please locate this via:
Job profiles - Health and social care
To hear more about this opportunity please contact healthyplaces@hertfordshire.gov.uk for an informal discussion about the role.
Interview Date: week commencing 2nd April 2026
How to apply
As part of your application, please upload your most recent CV. Ensure your CV is up to date with your employment history (including any employment gaps), and including any training/qualifications. We encourage you to include examples of where you have demonstrated the requirements/criteria in the advert / job profile to allow the panel to fully recognise your skills and abilities. You will have the opportunity to include a short covering paragraph within your application to give us a little more information about your skills, knowledge, and experiences.
Secondment
This position is open to secondments. If you work for HCC or any other Local Authority and would like to be considered as a Secondment contract, please ensure you complete the Secondment Form as part of your application. If you do not, your application will be considered as a Fixed Term Contract only.
Additional information
Disability Confident
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and guarantee an interview to anyone disclosing a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post.
English Fluency
The ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post (for those whose language is a signed language the provision of a sign language interpreter who speaks English to the necessary standard of fluency will be required). Further information about the legal requirement can be found here.