A town planning assistant or technician provides practical and technical support for town planners. Duties are varied and include giving advice to the public and administration duties.

The Work

You could be:

• gathering, interpreting and analysing statistical information for professional staff
• dealing with correspondence and enquiries from the public
• processing building warrant and planning applications
• checking legislation
• preparing reports including costings, tables of statistics and drawings
• enlarging, reducing, extracting from or revising maps, using specialist software such as Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
• using computer-aided design (CAD) to draw up designs and plans
• keeping records and maintaining systems
• setting up public meetings.

Pay

The figures below are only a guide. Actual pay rates may vary, depending on:

• where you work
• the size of company or organisation you work for
• the demand for the job.

Starting salaries for town planning assistants or technicians range from £18,000 to £25,000 a year. With experience this can rise to over £30,000 a year.

Conditions

• You will work mainly in an office.
• You might occasionally travel to go to meetings and visit sites.
• There might be some evening and weekend work.

Getting In

• You can usually get in with Highers or a relevant NC (SCQF Levels 4-6) or SVQ.
• Entry to NC or SVQ is usually some subjects at National 4 or 5.
• It helps if you know about CAD, GIS and other relevant software.
• You need to be able to understand maps and technical plans.

Job Outlook Scotland

Job Outlook Scotland and UK

  Scotland

2022

2544

1.6 %

RISE

2027

2585

  United Kingdom

2022

23926

1.4 %

RISE

2027

24264

LMI data powered by EMSI UK

What Does it Take?

You need:

• accuracy and attention to detail
• good written and spoken communication skills
• to be able to work alone and as part of a team
• numeracy and IT skills
• analytical thinking skills
• knowledge of CAD and specialist software
• organisational skills and the ability to work to deadlines
• the ability to understand and produce technical drawings
• a good understanding of local and national planning laws.

Training

• Training is usually on the job.
• You may attend college on a day release basis to study for a relevant qualification.

Getting On

• After gaining experience you may be able to move on to senior level, particularly in the public sector.
• Professionals, such as Town Planning Assistants/Technicians involved in spatial planning can become an Associate of the RTPI once they have demonstrated a balance of educational and work experience. There is a route to Chartered Membership of the RTPI from Associate. See the RTPI website for full details.
• It is also possible to qualify to become a professional town planner through further study.

More Information

For more information please see the organisations listed below:

• Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI)
• Construction Industry Training Board  (CITB)