Senior Advisor – Sustainable Development(Ref: 5498)

Job content

Location

East Midlands (England), East of England, London (region), North East England, North West England, South East England, South West England

About The Job

Job summary

This position is based at Ashford (Kent) , Bridgwater , Bristol , Cambridge , Crewe , Eastleigh , Lincoln , London, Manchester , Norwich , Nottingham , Peterborough , Reading , Wallingford , Worthing

Job Description

Job summary

These roles are based in Natural England’s area teams at various locations around the country.

Job Description

We are the Government’s advisor for the natural environment, playing a vital role in delivering the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan, an ambitious vision which brings new opportunities to protect and enhance, and to achieve real outcomes for the environment.

Do you have a passion for nature and the environment? Do you want to make a real difference and secure significant environmental gains in the present and the future? Do you enjoy working in a team? Can you see yourself advising communities and customers to maximise gains for the Natural Environment?

If this appeals to you, a career at Natural England offers rewarding opportunities to secure environmental improvements and play your part in creating a better future for people and nature.

The priority work Natural England is delivering includes:

• Establishing a Nature Recovery Network to help wildlife thrive
• Monitoring environmental changes to identify and help reduce the effects of climate change
• Working with farmers and landowners to develop greener food production methods
• Advising on plans for new developments to maximise gains for nature
• Providing ways for people to better connect with nature, including green social prescribing
  

See more about the work of Natural England at:

www.gov.uk/government/organisations/natural-england

Benefits

Wherever possible Natural England accommodates requests for both full-time and part-time hours and other flexible working patterns to help employees achieve a good work/life balance and maintain their health and wellbeing.

Natural England provides excellent opportunities for career progression, training and development tailored to your role. From induction to ongoing learning and development, everyone in Natural England is supported to develop their skills and capabilities. Everyone has 10 days to devote to personal learning and development, as well as an additional 3 days to volunteer.

You will have access to Civil Service Pension and benefits arrangements and generous leave allowances (33 day per year pro rata), as well as flexible working, to help you achieve a work-life balance that works for you and us.

You will have access to a range of benefits including discounts on shopping vouchers, cycle to work scheme, and childcare vouchers. You can also join the Civil Service Sport club which offer discounts on a range of sports and leisure opportunities as well as social events.

Natural England is a fantastic place to work, where difference is celebrated.

We’re committed to fairness and equality for all, so you feel valued for who you are and what you do. Our shared values help us work together to benefit the communities we serve. Our thriving employee-led diversity networks support our inclusive culture and contribute to our Diversity Action Plan.

Summary Of The Role

This is an exciting opportunity to make a strong contribution to Natural England’s engagement in planning work, including some of the most important development proposals in the country. The role has a particular focus on providing advice on Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects, or NSIPs, major planning schemes that present both challenges and significant opportunities for the natural environment. They cover a wide range of proposals, from renewable energy to water resources, ports, airports and major new road and rail schemes.

Working with colleagues in both your team and across the organisation, you will help ensure that the natural environment is fully considered through the planning process, seeking to maximise gains for nature. Our aim is to ensure that all development is truly sustainable, not only protecting what we have but also contributing to nature recovery.

Role Description

These posts will be based within our Area Teams. Our Area Teams have an important role in coordinating and delivering place-based sustainable development advice. This includes advising on complex project specific developments, as well as influencing and enabling local authorities and other decision-makers to embed nature into their place-based plans.

The role will involve providing senior support and oversight of our complex sustainable development casework, with a particular focus on leading Area Team engagement with NSIP cases. You will both lead on advice and deliver through others, ensuring the focus of effort and resources in the team is directed at agreed priorities. Through the provision of high quality, timely advice, you will play a key role in ensuring Natural England is able to secure strong environmental outcomes.

You will be expected to be an active member of key internal networks to fully understand commissions that are being developed nationally, to grow your own knowledge base and share that with colleagues within the team.

Working with Team Leaders and Senior Advisers you will have a responsibility to grow the capability and capacity for delivering our sustainable development work within the team by developing others. As a member of the leadership team you will be expected to be a role model for organisational values, and support and encourage the development of staff in the team.

Key Accountabilities

• Act as senior responsible officer for high-risk development casework, with a particular focus on NSIP cases. Work collaboratively with colleagues across the team, supporting others delivering technical advice and liaising with national specialist support as needed.
• Provide Senior Adviser support to other sustainable development advisers within the team, including support at external and internal meetings, providing a steer on complex and challenging issues, and escalating risk through appropriate channels.
• Support advisers to maximise delivery through our chargeable services, focusing on cases where Natural England advice can achieve the greatest environmental outcomes.
• Act as the lead contact on internal national networks and groups, promoting join up with our national Sustainable Development Programme and ensuring a consistent approach across the country.
• Work with other Senior Advisers within the wider area team, to ensure consistency in advice delivery across all our work areas.
• Build capacity in area team staff and externally as appropriate, both highlighting the need for and delivering training as necessary.
• Engage and liaise with customers and partners - providing advice to Local Planning Authorities, Statutory Undertakers and government agencies.
  

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

Specific knowledge, skills and experience required:

• The ability to see the big picture, so you can steer sustainable development work within the context of the organisation’s vision, mission and aims, and help colleagues understand how their work relates to and supports this.
• The ability to build collaborative relationships with colleagues (both internally and externally) to help make things happen and deliver outcomes.
• The ability to direct, coach and support staff to deliver on sustainable development objectives.
• The ability to resolve problems and manage risks with good judgement, and seek innovative solutions.
• Strong planning, prioritisation, and organisational ability to manage complex delivery areas with competing demands.
• Excellent written and oral communications skills.
• Robust and current knowledge of relevant legislation and guidance and how to apply and interpret it to NE’s activities and duties.
• Strong understanding of environmental protection in England and the legislation that underpins it.
• Demonstrable experience of UK ecology with a broad understanding of priority habitats and species.
  

Locations

Natural England is adopting hybrid working – which means our staff work from a flexible range of locations, encompassing home, offices (ours and our partners) and relevant sites. All new staff will be formally linked to one of our 25 offices across England and the expectation is that all new staff will be able to access their local office to be part of the community of staff in their geographical area. Full time staff are expected to attend their associated office for a minimum of one day a week. Staff members are required to carry out all their duties working in this way and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time. Travel expenses will be paid if work related travel is required but does not apply to travel between home and your associated office.

National team roles can be linked with any Natural England office while Area Team roles will be linked with an office in the relevant geographic area. View a map of our office locations here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/natural-england-office-locations

Pay

It is Natural England policy to employ at the entry point of the salary range.

How To Apply

We welcome and encourage applications from all communities. Natural England is accredited to the Disability Confident Scheme, which denotes organisations which have a positive attitude towards disabled people. Disabled applicants who meet the minimum requirements for the role at the shortlisting stage are guaranteed an invitation to interview. If you require a reasonable adjustment at interview, or there is anything else you would like the panel to take into consideration, you should notify us of this at application stage where possible, or well in advance of your interview.

This vacancy uses competency-based assessment. We’ll assess you against the competencies below during the selection process:

• Technical/specialist knowledge
• Creating resilient landscapes and seas
• Personal Effectiveness
• Putting People at the Heart of the Environment
  

When completing the application form you should present relevant examples using the STAR format. Give us an example of how you have demonstrated the competency (which can be work related or from another area of your life) and tell us about the Situation, the specific Task you had to undertake, the specific Actions you took, and the Result (both immediate and in a wider context) of your doing so.

Please note that STAR format is not required when answering the Technical Skills & Knowledge competency.

Examples should be given in no more than 250 words for each competency.

Competencies

Competence 1

Professional competency

Detail

Technical skills and knowledge

Description

• Strong knowledge of the natural environment, including ecology, biodiversity and landscape.
• Possess an environmental, town planning or other relevant degree or have an equivalent level of applied experience.
• Strong experience and skills in assessing environmental impacts and opportunities of large complex developments to provide outcome-focussed solutions and advice.
• Demonstrate knowledge and experience of the planning system, including an understanding of Natural England’s statutory role within it.
• Demonstrate knowledge and experience specifically relating to the consenting process for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs).
• Demonstrate the ability to build strong, collaborative partnerships.
  

Competence 2

Professional competency

Detail

Creating resilient landscapes and seas

Description

• Identify and apply relevant planning and environmental legislation, policies and processes to deliver effective and proportionate evidence-based solutions and advice. (Practitioner)
• Identify appropriate solutions for avoidance, mitigation, compensation of environmental impacts and meeting shared outcomes; and identify opportunities for enhancing the natural environment. (Practitioner)
• Understand the environmental value of designated sites and explain that to stakeholders. (Practitioner)
  

Competence 3

Professional competency

Detail

Personal effectiveness

Description

• Make and explain objective decisions which combine your professional judgement and evidence. (Expert)
• Share expertise and knowledge with people and networks so that you can develop together. (Practitioner)
• Act with integrity, addressing challenging issues and managing conflict through being open and objective. (Practitioner)
  

Competence 4

Professional competency

Detail

Putting people at the heart of the environment

Description

• Listen to and understand our diverse partners and customers so that you achieve the best outcomes for them and Natural England. (Practitioner)
• Nurture trusting partnerships and collaborate to achieve pragmatic outcomes that help deliver Natural England’s vision, mission and aims. (Practitioner)
• Understand and explain the outcomes that we seek in your local patch and how these fit in with local and national issues. (Practitioner)
  

Person specification

Benefits

Please refer to Job Description

Alongside your salary of £33,736, Natural England contributes £9,142 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
  

Things you need to know

Selection process details

Please Refer To Job Description

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality Requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
  

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s recruitment principles (opens in a new window) .

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Apply and further information

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window) .

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Christina Relf
• Email : christina.relf@naturalengland.org.uk
  

Recruitment team

• Email : defra-recruitment-enquiries@gov.sscl.com
  

Further information

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/natural-england/about/complaints-procedure

https://networkrecruitment.tal.net/vx/appcentre-7/brand-4/candidate/so/pm/1/pl/8/opp/5498-5498-Senior-Advisor-Sustainable-Development/en-GB