Senior Lawyer - Highways and Planning

Staffordshire County Council is a modern, progressive, and forward thinking authority that empowers its employees to be bold, innovative and take pride in their work. Staffordshire Legal Services is one of the largest in house legal teams in the region, providing high quality, high impact work across every Council function and a wide range of external clients.

Why Join Us?

We genuinely prioritise work-life balance-our staff survey tells us we don't just say it, we live it. Our benefits include:

• Generous holiday allowance, increasing with service, plus the option to purchase additional leave
• Agile, flexible and term time working arrangements
• Local Government Pension Scheme with generous (29.5%) employer contributions
• Employee discounts, staff parking discounts, and an optional car lease scheme
• Family friendly policies, including maternity, adoption, paternity and parental leave
• A collaborative, supportive team culture where your contribution truly matters

Main Responsibilities

These will include delivering support in relation to Highway and Planning matters, as follows:

• Advising on County Planning matters including applications received and work generated and planning enforcement.
• Negotiating complex planning obligations on behalf of highway and education clients.
• Negotiating highway agreements on behalf of highway clients.
• Giving advice in relation to a full range of often complex Local Authority statutory Highway and Planning functions.
• Managing client files in accordance with Lexcel requirements and supervising other members of the team.

The Ideal Candidate

We are looking for you to be a qualified Chartered Legal Executive (with practice/advocacy rights), Solicitor or Barrister with:

• A comprehensive understanding of Highway and Planning law.
• An in depth understanding of the work carried out within the public sector; previous local government experience is not essential.
• An ability to clearly, confidently and effectively communicate.
• Meticulous attention to detail.
• Effective time management, prioritisation skills and an ability to work under the demands of competing pressures.
• An ability to delegate work in order to generate capacity.

We're happy to talk flexible working.

'If you're unsure whether your skills are the right fit, we encourage you to get in touch for an informal discussion.'

Please contact John Rowe, Principal Lawyer at or Imran Razaq, Deputy Legal Services Manager at .

Interviews will take place during the week commencing 17 August 2026.

Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and a Disability Confident employer.