Chartered Town Planner Apprenticeships

There are two types of modules on this apprenticeship:

1. Taught, classroom-based modules, taught in semesters. Students will study these on a day release basis. These modules are shared with the BA (Hons) Urban and Environmental Planning, MA Town and Country Planning and/or MA Urban Design and Planning.

2. Planning Practice Modules, which involves guided, work-based learning, where students get three touch points during the year:

• Beginning (September) - briefing and planning;
• Middle (January)  - formative feedback and workshops; and
• End (June /July) - to provide assessment guidance.

Staff will act as tutors to students on the Planning Practice Modules, being available by email and phone and face-to-face meetings as requested.

However, students will also have a work-based mentor whose job it will be to support and guide the student as they identify, gather and analyse information. This is a key structural difference to the non-apprenticeship degree programmes and firmly sets the Degree Apprenticeships Chartered Town Planner apart from these.

In the Planning Practice Modules, the emphasis is on learning at and from the work place. It is here where many of the skills and behaviours, that the Town Planner must develop, are best observed, analysed and developed. These modules will be supported via LSBU's Virtual Learning Environment, Moodle, and clear guidance will be given to the work-based mentor. The student will be required to log their work on the University’s e-portfolio, One File.

Level 4 Entry PG DIP Chartered Town Planner

Level 4

• Making Sustainable Places
• Planning History and Principles
• Development Management
• Plans, People and Processes
• PPM 1: The Professional Planning Environment
• PPM 2: Interpersonal Skills and Professional Behaviours

Level 5

• Environmental Change: Issue and Impacts
• Strategies, Visions and Design
• Planning for Housing
• Local Economic Development
• PPM 3: Plantech
• PPM 4: Community Engagement and Participation

Level 6

• Evidence Based Planning
• Real Estate Valuation
• International Planning Perspectives
• Cities and Representations
• PPM 5: Planning Practice Project (double module)

Level 7

• Planning, Politics and Theory
• The Making of Place
• Specialism – one from:
• Housing and Regeneration
• Sustainable Infrastructure and Mobilities
• Urban Design Project
• Planning Law in Practice
• PPM 6 Learning from Best Practice in Spatial Planning
• PPM 7: Professional Profile

Level 7 Entry: MA Chartered Town Planner

• Planning, Politics and Theory
• The Making of Place
• Specialism – one from:
• Housing and Regeneration
• Sustainable Infrastructure and Mobilities
• Urban Design Project
• Planning Law in Practice
• PPM 6 Learning from Best Practice in Spatial Planning
• PPM 7: Professional Profile
• Dissertation

Level 7 Entry: MA Chartered Town Planner (Urban Design)

• Planning, Politics and Theory
• The Making of Place
• Urban Design Project
• Design and Property Development
• PPM 6 Learning from Best Practice in Spatial Planning
• PPM 7: Professional Profile
• Dissertation

A town planner’s role is to help stakeholders create a vision for what a place (city, town, village or countryside) may look like in the future, and then to manage and facilitate the design, development and conservation processes that enable this be put into practice.

Typically, a town planner will be involved in four key aspects of such place shaping. These all require stakeholder engagement including local communities, developers, infrastructure providers (e.g. highways authorities, electricity, gas, water), county, district and unitary authorities, government agencies (e.g. Natural England, English Heritage). The four main areas are:

• Policy and plan making including the collection and analysis of data and researched material, visioning and the management of the plan through the statutory processes of consultation, adoption and implementation.


• Development control, including the validation of planning applications, advice to the applicant, assessment of the application against the local plan and planning laws and regulations, the awarding or not of planning permission, preparation and appearance at planning inquiries, and potential taking an application through judicial review. This also includes negotiation of agreements between developers and the local planning authority to secure such non-commercial resources such as social housing, doctor’s and schools premises, road improvements and leisure facilities.


• Enforcement which includes using an array of notices to stop development, remove unlawful development and to ensure development meets the terms of the permissions granted. Such enforcement may mean engaging with the courts and judicial system.


• Conservation and management of heritage and countryside resources by working with resource owners, consulting on applications and help in negotiating management agreements, licenses and grant applications.

As a town planner, you will be engaging with a broad range of stakeholders and seeking often multiple outcomes for development schemes. You will use a range of skills and abilities you to play your role in shaping the places in which we work, live and take our leisure. These include negotiation, seeking compromise, making recommendations, enabling others to achieve their aims, communicating complex ideas and concepts to non-specialists, working within the law, and making ethical decisions.

Employability Service

We are University of the Year for Graduate Employment for the second year in a row - The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2018, 2019.

At LSBU, we want to set you up for a successful career. During your studies – and for two years after you graduate – you’ll have access to our Employability Service, which includes:

• An online board where you can see a wide range of placements: part-time, full-time or voluntary. You can also drop in to see our Job Shop advisers, who are always available to help you take the next step in your search.
• Our Careers Gym offering group workshops on CVs, interview techniques and finding work experience, as well as regular presentations from employers across a range of sectors.

Our Student Enterprise team can also help you start your own business and develop valuable entrepreneurial skills.

Each of the Chartered Town Planner apprenticeship degrees gives you a strong mix of work-based and classroom-based learning. This allows you to develop not only your knowledge, but also your skills and behaviours to see you through your professional career.

Delivery

Teaching is by day release and reflective work-based learning. Apprenticeships start in September 2019 with a three day field based induction and includes a Level 4 field trip, site visits and analysis in London and summer schools in preparation for your major projects and end point assessments.

Assessment

Assessment of the degree apprenticeships is by coursework only. You will be expected to write essays and reports, research and analyse sites, interpret plans, compile plans and policies, complete portfolios, take part in mock inquiries and analyse the viability of proposals. All these are the task of the planner.

Gateway

Before undertaking the End Point Assessment, you will provide evidence of satisfactory completion of all aspects of the apprenticeship programme. To do this you must have passed all modules, completed your e-portfolio, personal development plan and continuing professional development plan. We will run a short summer school to help you prepare for the end point assessment.

End Point Assessment

The End Point Assessment is the final stage of your apprenticeship programme. During the EPA you will demonstrate the mastery of the skills, knowledge and behaviours developed throughout your apprenticeship. This will be done as a part of a professional discussion and submission of an evidence portfolio.

PgDip Chartered Town Planner (Apprenticeship) (PT)

• A Level BCC;
• BTEC National Diploma MMM;
• Access to HE qualifications with 9 Distinctions and 36 Merits or;
• Equivalent Level 3 qualifications worth 106 UCAS points or;
• Level 3 Planning Technician Apprenticeship.
• Applicants must hold 5 GCSEs A-C including Maths and English, or equivalent (reformed GCSEs grade 4 or above).

MA Chartered Town Planner (Apprenticeship) (PT)

• A minimum 2:2 degree, or equivalent, in an appropriate subject area, such as built environment and social science subjects.  Applicants with a non-cognate degree and several years’ relevant work experience may be offered a place, if they can demonstrate a suitable level of specialist subject knowledge.
• Applicants must hold 5 GCSEs A-C including Maths and English, or equivalent (reformed GCSEs grade 4 or above).

MA Chartered Town Planner (Urban Design) (Apprenticeship) (PT)

• A minimum 2:2 degree, or equivalent, in an appropriate subject area, such as built environment and social science subjects. Applicants with a non-cognate degree and several years’ relevant work experience may be offered a place, if they can demonstrate a suitable level of specialist subject knowledge.
• Applicants must hold 5 GCSEs A-C including Maths and English, or equivalent (reformed GCSEs grade 4 or above).

Funding

The cost of the apprenticeship is paid fully by the employer (sometimes part funded by the government) through apprenticeship levy. The apprenticeship levy is a pot of money some companies pay into, which all businesses have access to spend on the training costs of apprenticeships. Companies fall into two categories: levy-payers (who pay into the pot) and non-levy payers (who do not). You can find out more in our Levy and Funding section, specifically for employers

The apprentice does not contribute toward the cost of study.

Bands

Apprenticeship standards are all assigned a funding band by the Government – these funding bands are the maximum amount the Government will fund via the levy towards a given apprenticeship standard. There are currently 30 funding bands ranging from £1,000 to £27,000.

Incentives

Employers with less than 50 staff sending an apprentice aged 16-18 will have 100% of the training costs paid by the government. All employers who employ an apprentice aged 16-18 on the first day of teaching will receive a £1,000 incentive from the government. You can find out more in our Levy and Funding section, specifically for employers.

Cost

You can find out the funding band for an Apprenticeship Standard on the Government website. To find out how much we are charging, please get in touch with us at apprenticeships@lsbu.ac.uk

Field trips

The Level 4 residential field trip is included with the course fees (except subsistence). Local site visits in London may require you to pay local travel costs.