Town Planning

A Town Planner helps communities, companies, and politicians to decide on the best way to use land and buildings.

A Town Planner’s main aim is achieving sustainability. This means balancing different social, environmental, and economic issues when official decisions are made on whether a piece of land is built on or not. Another way to describe this job is 'making places', such as towns, for people to live and work. Town Planners do not construct buildings but recommend how and where buildings should be built, what they should be used for and how they should fit into the local surroundings.

Town Planners work with construction professionals such as Builders, Architects and Engineers as well as the local community. The community includes politicians, businesses, landowners, schools, older residents, families and young people. We also work with the other local councils in Suffolk.

Common projects and responsibilities for Town Planners:

• Making sure people have access to facilities such as schools, fire stations and libraries.
• Inputting into the design of new towns, garden neighbourhoods or villages and securing developer contributions towards essential infrastructure.
• Assessing applications for county council developments, such as new schools, as well as applications for minerals and waste developments.
• Meeting Architects and local people, explaining the planning process and proposals, and listening to other people’s views.
• Presenting to committees and meetings on planning proposals.
• Managing and leading different projects at the same time.
• Creating a minerals and waste local plan for Suffolk and influencing the local plans with Ipswich Borough Council, East Suffolk Council, West Suffolk Council and Babergh/Mid Suffolk District Councils’.