Director of Place & Communities

What Makes the Cotswolds is the Place!

Proud, passionate, ambitious - it couldn't be a more exciting time to work for Cotswold District Council. We're searching for the very best people to join us!

It's all change for Cotswold District Council. We're bringing back in-house a number of services that were previously outsourced, to help us take the council in an exciting new direction shaped around the needs of our residents, businesses, and communities. We're busy creating a council that's proactive and responsive in a fast-changing environment.

We're looking for people who share our vision and ambition, who are innovative and creative in how we deliver services, have tenacity and a 'can do' attitude, and, most importantly, agree with us that silos are only for grain!

The Cotswolds is recognised as a fantastic place to live, visit, and do business. Cirencester was recently voted the best place to live in the South West. We've got cutting edge green aviation businesses located at Kemble Airport and internationally recognised food safety business Campden BRI in the north Cotswolds. But we know we can go further.

We're looking for an exceptional leader to spearhead our place-shaping agenda as Director of Communities & Place. This is a brand new role that'll have two key strands of focus. The first strand will lead on transforming a range of services that include planning, planning policy, economic development, tourism, and community engagement, as these services come back to the council. The second strand will be to work with the Chief Executive and wider leadership team to drive a culture of innovation and collaboration across the organisation, and to implement the council's exciting new people strategy.

Your leadership will guide the strategic delivery of our community and place services, where you'll take a business-like approach to achieve the highest standards of service delivery. Your instinct for seizing opportunities for improvement and adopting a commercial mindset will be essential as you engage with our teams, businesses, residents, and stakeholders to elevate our services. Your political astuteness will help navigate the complexities of local governance and foster collaboration across departments, driving the successful integration of this broad range of place services.

Effective leadership and team development are crucial to our success. In this role, you'll lead a forward-thinking team and create opportunities for innovation, digitalisation, and growth. If you're ready to lead a dynamic directorate and shape the future of The Cotswolds, join us and help transform our communities to create lasting positive change.

For a confidential discussion about the role, please contact Helen Anderson ().

Closing date: Midnight on Friday 8th November 2024.

Cotswold District Council is an accredited member of the Disability Confident scheme. As part of this, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the vacancy. If you would like to apply against this scheme, please state this within your covering statement or in a separate email to .

To apply:

To apply, please submit an up-to-date copy of your CV (four sides of A4 maximum), along with a supporting statement detailing your experience and achievements and addressing the key criteria for the role set out on this site and using examples to demonstrate how you meet the requirements. Documents should be uploaded via our website, please include and upload the below information in two documents only. If you experience any issues whilst applying, please contact .

Applications should include:

• Full contact details;
• Names, positions, organisations and contact details for two referees (we will ask your permission before contacting referees);
• Notification of any dates when you are not available for an interview.

At Tile Hill, we are committed to inclusion and accessibility. We champion and support all individuals to ensure everyone feels valued, listened to and motivated to get the very best out of each recruitment process and that processes are designed to meet the needs of individuals. If you have any specific requests and would like a confidential discussion with the Tile Hill team, then please email .