Lane Rental Officer

About The Borough

Found in zone 6 with good transport links in and out of London, Kingston is a vibrant and diverse university town which creates the rich sense of community shared across the borough and its Residents. Kingston boasts an idyllic riverside location, good shopping and great restaurants, as well as a mix of modern and historic town centre. Kingston has lots of open parklands and cycle routes that help connect the district town centres into an enjoyable place to live and work.

We are passionate about working closely with our residents and vulnerable groups to help them maintain their independence and create a balance between support and independent living.

About The Role And Our Ideal Candidate

As a Lane Rental Officer, you are the engine of our network coordination. Working closely with the Lane Rental Coordination Team Lead, you will be on the front line of the Kingston Permit Scheme and Lane Rental Scheme.

• This is a fast-paced, operational role. You won’t just be behind a desk; you will be assessing permit applications, liaising with utility companies, and carrying out site inspections to ensure compliance with legislation like the New Roads and Street Works Act. You will be the point of contact for stakeholders, helping us minimize congestion and ensuring that work on our highway network is coordinated, safe, and delivered to a high standard.
• You will also be responsible for supporting the team on all aspects of lane rental administration, completion of TTROs and DTROs, and assisting with general administrative tasks as required by the business. Key Impact & Responsibilities
• Operational Coordination: Manage the day-to-day Lane Rental application process, reviewing permits and providing technical advice to works promoters.
• Network Integrity: Proactively identify work clashes and negotiate with utility companies to ensure work is carried out efficiently and safely.
• Site Excellence: Plan and conduct site inspections across the borough, ensuring traffic management is compliant (Chapter 8) and public safety is maintained.
• Compliance & Reporting: Validate charges, manage records, and support the preparation of funding bids and performance reports.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Act as a key point of contact for the public, Councillors, and emergency services, investigating enquiries and resolving issues professionally.
• System Mastery: Utilize DfT Street Manager and other internal systems to maintain accurate records, invoices, and data evidence.

About Us

The Highways and Transport Service at the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames operates as a combined, forward-thinking Shared Service with the London Borough of Sutton

The team manages major development and improvement schemes, maintains existing borough roads, and oversees the design and deployment of local transport policies across both areas.

The team splits its focus between daily infrastructure maintenance and sustainable urban planning:

• Street Works & Permitting: The team coordinates all street works using the Department for Transport’s national permitting platform to manage traffic disruption and prevent utility scheduling conflicts.
• Asset Management & Repairs:They actively oversee public highway safety inspections, potholes, structural bridge repairs, and dropped kerb licensing. Notably, the council has integrated cost-effective and faster-curing materials like Elastomac to reopen roads within 30 minutes of surface dressing.
• Sustainable Transport & Healthy Streets: Collaborating with regional groups like the Kingston Cycling Campaign, this section designs active travel routes, handles the rollout of 20mph zones, manages school streets, and hosts statutory Traffic Management Order (TMO) public consultations.

Strategic Changes: The Lane Rental Scheme.

The service has significantly upgraded its traffic management powers by introducing a Lane Rental Scheme.

• Timeline:Following political approval to join Tranche 2 of the London Borough Lane Rental Scheme, Kingston scheduled an initial trial phase, leading to the full scheme coming into force on 11 January 2027.
• Function: This policy directly empowers the Highways team to levy daily occupancy fees on utility companies, works promoters, and section 106/278 developers who execute roadworks on the most traffic-sensitive paths during peak congestion windows. The restriction zone targets roughly 12.5% of Kingston's busiest road networks to actively protect vehicle flow and air quality

Our Offer To You

As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across however big or small; will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits to enable staff to achieve a work life balance, some of which include:

• A generous annual leave entitlement of 25-32 days, plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply) depending on service and grade.
• Enhanced Maternity, Paternity, shared parental, adoption and dependents leave
• Three volunteering days per year in Kingston
• Hybrid working (dependent on the role)
• Flexible and agile working arrangements using Google Chromebooks
• Learning and development portal offering a range of courses
• Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Electric vehicle leasing scheme
• Confidential health & wellbeing and counselling support

Application Process

Apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application and check your CV details have been uploaded correctly in the relevant sections.

We understand and recognise the benefits of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the workplace and are embracing AI where appropriate, to boost our productivity and streamline how we deliver our Council services efficiently; to provide the best possible outcomes for our residents and communities.

However, we reserve the right to reject applications where it is apparent that AI-generated content has been used in isolation and without personalised responses. At Kingston we value authenticity and are looking for individuals who can clearly demonstrate their own skills, experience and motivation for the role that they are applying for and embrace and demonstrate our STAR values.

Here at Kingston we have core values of Transparency and this is to be demonstrated during the application process and completion of the supporting statement and will be further tested at interview and selection stage for those who progress forward.

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

As part of our award winning Diversity Programme we anonymise all applications received to reduce conscious and unconscious bias enabling every application to be reviewed on the knowledge, skills and experience shown in your application. We encourage our interview panels to be as diverse as possible (age, cultural, neurodiverse etc.) to reduce bias where possible. We are fully committed to removing barriers and enhancing the diversity of our workforce.

Additional Information

We are proud to be a diverse and welcoming Borough and we strive to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve, and instil a sense of belonging in our staff. We celebrate and respect differences and appreciate the value of having a diverse workforce, therefore we welcome applications from under represented groups.

To support our workers and their families we offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.

We are also proud to be a disability confident employer and guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria for a role. As an accredited London Living Wage Employer all our employees are guaranteed the London Living Wage regardless of their length or type of contract.

The UK has a points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance. Sponsorship availability varies and is subject to eligibility requirements and budget limitations. As a result, we cannot guarantee sponsorship for all roles and will evaluate sponsorship requests on a case-by-case basis.