Planning jobs in Berkshire

About the area

Planning in Berkshire

Berkshire has had no county council since 1998, so planning is split between six unitary councils: Bracknell Forest, Reading, Slough, West Berkshire, Windsor & Maidenhead and Wokingham. Each one prepares its own local plan and decides its own applications, while Bracknell Forest, Reading, Windsor & Maidenhead and Wokingham work together on a joint minerals and waste plan. The county sits in the Thames Valley, with the M4 and the Elizabeth line tying its towns to London and Heathrow.

The east of the county is dominated by Metropolitan Green Belt and Thames flood plain, with Windsor Castle and Windsor Great Park bringing a strong heritage dimension. Reading and Slough are dense commercial centres with offices, data centres and tall buildings, while Wokingham and Bracknell have grown through large planned housing areas. West Berkshire is far more rural, with most of it inside the North Wessex Downs National Landscape. The Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area affects housing across the south-east of the county. Planners here work for the unitaries, for the many consultancies based along the M4 corridor and for developers active in the Thames Valley.