I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Jonathan Hodge, Group Planning Manager for Blaby District Council. As part of our Planning Insights articles, I wanted to sit down with someone that has risen up the ranks within a local authority and in nine years, Jonathan has moved up from an Enforcement Compliance Officer, to managing the entire planning function.
On top of his rise, Jonathan was part of the management team that led Blaby to win the Local Planning Authority of the Year award at the East Midlands RTPI awards in 2023.
We had a conversation about the state of planning currently, how Blaby are pushing forward with their new local plan and what advice he would give to those looking to move up in the planning world.
“Can you tell me a bit about your first role in planning, and what made you get into planning in the first place?”
My first role was as a Planning Enforcement Compliance Officer. I got that role in 2016 and just kind of fell into working in local government, it wasn’t something that I had set out to get into. And so that role was doing in many parts what we still do now, which is proactive development monitoring. So, I would go around looking at large scale sites, major sites, anything with 10 houses and above, and I would liaise with the developers and residents to try and be on the front foot to deal with any small issues before they became larger issues.
So, whenever there’s development going on in local areas, there’s generally a perceived reaction to that. Usually in terms of the disruption it might cause the residents. Things like the noise, dust and mud on the road…that sort of thing. And the role allowed us to get on the front foot and try and maintain relationships and defuse any situations without the confrontation that may come if it’s dealt with at a later point.
“How was it when you first came into Enforcement? Was it a bit of a shock or had you done anything similar previously?”
Actually, no! I had never worked in local government before or in Planning Enforcement before. I’d had a large range of different jobs, and it was eye-opening in terms of what local government planning authorities do and the broad range of the services we provide. With Planning Enforcement only being one arm of planning itself, I slowly started to learn what all the other facets did as well.
It was great when I started because I got to meet a lot of people, developers, builders on site, contractors as well as local residents and it gave me an understanding of what they’re all going through at the same time. And it was an interesting challenge because what the developers want isn’t always what the local residents want.
But actually, I found in a lot of cases, the local residents were really positive. And the council was taking a proactive approach and not just waiting for complaints to happen and in that sense, it was beneficial because residents knew who they could contact at the council to be a voice between them and the developer.
We had that kind of framework in place so that we could manage the situations much more effectively than just reacting to things as they came up.
“You had no previous experience, so did anything push you towards a career in Local Government?”
It was one of those situations where, I was in a role with a marketing company and looking for something that was a bit more flexible with my work life balance. At the time, we had just had our first child and I was looking for something that allowed much more flexibility to be with my family. I think that’s the one thing that local government cannot be faulted for, in terms of its flexibility in working arrangements. The whole team I was working with at the time had incredibly flexible working hours that came in all shapes and sizes. It was also close to home and there were and still are great schools in the area. I’ve been here, Nine years now. I can’t fault it because of all those things.
“When was the first time that you felt you could move up the ladder & did you find the experience daunting or exciting?”
Well throughout the experiences I’ve had professionally, I’ve been responsible for the managing of people and services and had enjoyed it. When I came to the council, like I said, it was for the flexibility and all the other benefits of locality etc. so it was a bit of a change to not be managing people. So, when the opportunity arose it was something that I was more than happy to take on board and grab with both hands. But to be honest, from day one my manager at the time was always giving me what he described as development opportunities.
Which essentially, were quite difficult tasks! Tasks that stretched me for sure. It was never just, this is your role, this is what you do and it’s all the same level of work. Which could have happened and may lead to staff getting bored and leaving, he was very keen to develop me and give me the opportunities to grow. And within the first few months of being here I was put on the path to be a qualified Enforcement Officer, which allowed me to establish myself and move up further. But the opportunities were always there for me.
“So, how did you find the trajectory to where you are now, you started as a Compliance Officer but did you move to Team Leader and then Manager? How did it come about for you?”
I came in as a Planning Enforcement Compliance Officer and then I think probably two or three years down the line, the Senior Officer role became available. I was successful in applying for that. So that was at the stage where there was still a Service Manager above me but there were also two members of the team below me. So, it held some seniority but not particularly in the style of management.
As the Senior Officer, you might take on the more complex cases, or the more difficult cases in terms of the nuanced cases which were likely to be more of a corporate matter, but still under the overall guidance of the Service Manager.
And then, during Covid, it brought about a lot of change. I was fortunate when we all came back, the Enforcement Service Manager role became available. I had been in the Senior Officer role another two or three years, and I was fortunate enough to be able to go and be the Planning Enforcement Manager. I got to work with that great team in supporting them and, luckily, the Planning Enforcement team has broadly been the same bar the odd person, for a good number of years now and that’s created some stability. Even better, we are quite close whilst we all joke that we’re work colleagues and not friends.
The opportunities have always been there for me to develop but in addition, I have worked hard and taken those opportunities with all the effort I can put into them.
“You’ve been with Blaby for nine years and moved up to the position you’re in now which is very impressive, but there must have been some challenges along the way that you’ve faced. Can you think of anything that was particularly challenging on your way to this point?”
Yes absolutely, there’s always all kinds of challenges. For example, charging cases or challenging situations and particularly in Planning Enforcement, you don’t go home feeling warm and fuzzy every night.
There are cases where, certain things have happened and you have to tell an elderly resident that their extension isn’t in accordance with the approved plans. The challenging part is to complete your actual work whilst remembering to stay human and empathize with this person because most of the time they don’t know what they’ve done wrong until it’s too late.
But also, you don’t make the rules, and you must stand by them which can make it feel difficult to serve notice. Similarly, when you’re telling someone that their outbuilding is too high and that they’ve got to cut down their daughter’s summer house. The daughter is three years old and has got no idea what’s going on but she’s going to be devastated. So, the biggest challenge is to try and apply that empathy, but also that degree of common sense.
But the role of a Planning Enforcement Officer as a whole no matter what level you’re at is just like that. You do come into conflict with a lot of different people from a lot of different backgrounds and there isn’t a one size fit at all solution so you do have to manage your approach. You learn a lot about dealing with people and it’s something that you’re learning all the time, how to engage with people.
“So in the nine years that you’ve been working within Local Authority Planning, how has the industry changed, has it been noticeable within that time?”
Yes Certainly, the thing we are actively trying to change and improve is how we communicate with our local residents. To make sure they understand what is going on at all stages of the process and keep an open dialogue. I think naturally over the years the level of tolerance the public have for misunderstandings and misinformation has decreased significantly, and rightly so.
So in the nine years I’ve been here, the general attitude has changed on both sides of the coin and I think the system hasn’t changed a great deal and is probably overdue some realignment, which is what we are trying to improve currently.
“And when you talk about actively trying to improve these things and engaging with the community, how do you bridge that gap?”
In planning we love to use a lot of technical knowledge and a lot of acronyms. Which can create a barrier to people engaging with the process even at the very first step. And our main aim is to make the processes as understandable as possible and getting residents to engage with the local plan as early as possible.
So it’s not just about trying to get as much information to as many people as possible, it’s about engaging with each group respectively and we’re having a big focus with the youth and we’re going to do a lot of work with the youth Council here at the council, who are a really engaging body, and to see what they actually need because I think time has moved on and what was once relevant is probably not relevant anymore.
Knowing how these things work, it’s something that I’m sure we’ll get wrong at first and have a lot of learning to do in the process. It’s something that we are working on and it’s in the early stages but it’s something that we know we need to improve upon.
“Now thinking in terms of your position and the level you have reached personally. What’s the best thing about having reached where you currently are on the proverbial ladder?”
That’s a very difficult one to answer. When I was the Planning Enforcement Manager, I attended a training program. It was called the Street Council’s Network. During that I got to meet some Managers and Heads of Service from around the country.
Before that, I hadn’t really considered myself as the type of person to be a Head of Service, I wasn’t sure I could be the head manager. For no real reason other than I had just never considered myself the right type of person. But what I learnt from that training program was, there isn’t a right type of person.
So, to come back to your question of what’s the best thing about it. I suppose it’s to try and show to anybody in that position, contemplating or being considered for the next step, that anyone can get there.
Don’t get me wrong it has been a lot of hard graft and I’ve been lucky to be in a supportive and progressive environment. But with those things anybody can do it really, unless there is a specific issue the council is in and it’s not about being a technical expert at this or that.
What I’ve come to realise is that, it’s more about relationship building. And I started building those relationships with developers and local residents when I was an Officer. I’m now at a different end of the scale where I’m building more relationships with our elected members and developers but also with local residents and Parish councils.
“Okay, so on the flip side of that, what’s the most challenging thing about your position now?”
I think time. There is so much to do and there’s so many competing priorities and often not enough time to deal with everything in a timely manner. You know, you can set your week or even your day up with what you need to get done and suddenly an emergency can arise and all of a sudden those things you planned on doing get pushed to tomorrow or the day after, the same as a lot of professions.
So yeah, managing the time. If we had more time, it’d be brilliant, but we do the best we can with the resources that we’ve got and more often than not we manage to push through but it can be tough.
“Thinking about where you are now, you have come a long way in nine years and you didn’t think you would be in the position you’re in now. Is there any wish to go higher?”
No, I’m happy where I am and I don’t see myself as a director or a chief exec. I wouldn’t say never. I didn’t think I’d be a Group Planning Manager so you can never say never. I was happy in the previous role and the role before that. I think it’s an important lesson to never close yourself off to things or new opportunities.
“To finish off, what advice would you give to people trying to take the next step in their career? And what steps should young planners take to give themselves the best chance of success in the future?
I suppose the first one I would say is always say yes. So, the development opportunities that I was given, I could have said no to. For whatever reason, be it because it was too daunting or too hard or I had other things to do. But if you’ve got a good manager, they’ll support you.
If you’re struggling ask for help, no one’s got all the answers. I haven’t got all the answers now, I’m not necessarily the technical expert for everything and that’s why I have each of my service managers to deal with what they specialise in and to advise me.
But the main thing is, say yes to opportunities because they might not come around again.
“Is there anything else that you think people should know about Blaby or any message you would like to send out there?”
Just that Blaby is a fantastic place to work, and I love coming to work. I don’t want to be presumptuous and say everybody here loves it. Most people at least enjoy it! If not necessarily for the work, then definitely for the people. And the people make the place, in my opinion.
What I would say is that anyone who’s interested in Planning or working in Local Authority, go for it. Try it. See what you think. You’ll probably never come out.
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