Private Investigator jobs in Ripon

Salary: £39,481 - £44,253 per annum

Grade: JK

Hours: Full Time, 37 Hours per week

Contract: Permanent

Location: Harrogate, North Yorkshire

To be based in Skipton or Harrogate.

Our team…

The Council’s Planning Services play a fundamental role in managing the natural and built environment, ensuring that the future development needs of the area can be accommodated to make it a better place in which to live and work.

The main purpose of the role is to contribute to providing a high quality, customer-focused planning compliance service by investigating alleged breaches of planning control and pursuing the most appropriate and effective action to remedy these. This will include managing a caseload of planning enforcement investigations, preparing expediency reports, and drafting enforcement notices where appropriate

The successful candidate will be outcome focused, have the ability to work under pressure and manage their own workload. They will also need to demonstrate an understanding of the application of planning policy and legislation, and have excellent communication, report writing and organisational skills.

We operate a hybrid model of working, offering the opportunity for our staff to work from home, but also from a base within your ‘patch’ to enable you to be fully immersed within the community in which you will provide your skills and expertise. Bases of work are either Craven or Harrogate to allow for the reactive nature of the post.

Role summary…

As Planning Enforcement Officer, you will play an important operational role in the enforcement of planning regulations and policy and ensuring delivery of an efficient and effective enforcement function. The role involves receiving, investigating, and preparing reports with recommendations on allegations of breaches of planning control, and undertaking systematic and periodic reviews of approvals to monitor compliance and identify unauthorised developments. You will take a creative and solution focused approach to implementing a positive culture within the team. You will manage your own enforcement caseload effectively, with the support and guidance of senior colleagues.

To enable your success within this role, you will need to demonstrate.

• An awareness, understanding and interpretation of national and local planning legislation, policy, and procedures·
• The ability to work in a customer environment or with members of the public or organisations.
• The capability to work in a team and on own initiative.
• A commitment to work to tight timescales and achieve outcomes.

Contact and Apply

For informal discussions about the role, please contact Rachel Robinson, Enforcement Team Manager on Rachel.Robinson@northyorks.gov.uk or Leon Hazeldine - Principal Enforcement Officer email: leon.hazeldine@northyorks.gov.uk or 01756 706425.

Key Documents

Total Rewards brochure

Key Dates

Closing Date: 25/10/2026

Interviews: w/c 9/11/2026

NYC are committed to directly recruiting staff and will not accept applications nor services from agency suppliers in respect of our vacancies.

We are committed to meeting the needs of our diverse community and aim to have a workforce reflecting this diversity. We are also committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults. We expect all staff and volunteers to this commitment.

North Yorkshire Councils’ purpose is to deliver services and facilities to the diverse residents and visitors of North Yorkshire. To ensure we deliver inclusive services we strive to have a diverse workforce where everybody can be themselves by respecting differences and embedding equality of opportunity. We celebrate diversity and recognise each other’s contributions; we therefore welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds.

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