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ReferenceTree Officer
37 hours per week
Salary: £27,852 - £32,020 (Grade 9)
£31,099 - £35,411 (Grade 10)
Plus a £2,000 bonus payment after 24 months service
Wareham or Wimborne, combined with homeworking
Protect it. Shape it. Enjoy it. Be part of Dorset.
Dorset is a beautiful and iconic area, with historic market towns and miles of stunning coast. But it’s also a place of growth and innovation, with a population of 375,000 and an economy worth over £7 billion. To serve this unique area, a new unitary council was established in 2019. Bold and ambitious, with a One Team approach, we’re taking Dorset into the future – and our Planning team is taking centre stage. The Tree team is a specialist team sitting within the wider planning team.
An opportunity has arisen for a Tree Officer post within the Planning Department at Dorset Council. The post is a permanent full time post at grade 9/10. The tree team includes 9 tree officers and 4 tree assistants.
What’s in it for you:
As part the Tree Team, the main role of the Tree Officer is to deal with tree work applications and notifications as well as assessing planning applications and their impact on trees and hedgerows, in doing so strengthening the aim to create a suitable green environment for all.
You will be making, modifying and reviewing TPOs as required. And when necessary, gathering evidence where planning breaches have occurred.
What you will be doing
As part of our dynamic Tree Team, you will be responsible for dealing with tree work applications and notifications, assessing planning applications and their impact on trees and hedgerows, and making, modifying, and reviewing TPOs as required. Your work will play a vital role in creating a sustainable green environment for all.
Working alongside our team of 9 Tree Officers and 4 Tree Assistants, you'll be able to collaborate with like-minded professionals, share your ideas, and learn new skills.
About you
We are looking for a positive, energetic, and conscientious person, preferably with relevant Local Authority experience in a similar role to join the team to help improve and deliver the future development of the area. You will have excellent organisation skills; a good knowledge of GIS systems; and be able to deal confidently with a range of clients including members of the public, council colleagues, councillors and the private sector.
Tree Officers are essential to the delivery of the high-quality service that we offer, which is supported by other specialist officers within conservation as well as the wider planning team.
Planning operates a flexible working arrangement with the opportunity to work from home if required.
Additional information
This position requires regular site visits, this means that there is a requirement for a vehicle (or transport deemed to be suitable by the council) to be available on most working days in order to carry out normal duties.
Whatever stage of your career you’re at, you will also need a gift for clear communication and affinity with our values: Responsibility, Respect, Recognition and Collaboration.
With a team that lives by these principles, we have a friendly workplace where you’ll be free to learn and thrive. Employee benefits include a local government pension, flexible working and continual learning and development. With beautiful beaches and countryside on your doorstep too, a career in Dorset comes with everything you need.
The friends and family referral scheme applies to this post. If an employee recommended this post to you, mention them when asked on your application form.
Employees can share this advert by using the button links alongside the job title.
The key skills recruitment and retention scheme applied to these positions, subject to eligibility. The amount payable will be £2,000 (pro-rata for part time positions) after 24 months of employment.
Contact details
To discuss this post, please contact Andrew Douglas, Acting Tree Team Leader by email Andrew.douglas@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk or phone 01202 228776 or Alison Turnock, Service Manager for Conservation alison.turnock@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk on 01929 557337.
Closing date for applications: Sunday 23 July 2023
Interviews to take place on: Thursday 03 August 2023
Dorset Council: A great place to work
We’re passionate about making Dorset a great place to live, work and visit. Working for us should be no exception.
At Dorset Council we:
- provide more than 450 services to over 300,000 residents
- have ambitious aspirations
- are excited about our future
- care about Dorset and all the people who live here
- know that all roles make a difference and that our employees are key to our success
You will:
- have access to a range of employee benefits
- be part of an organisation that supports each other to grow and succeed
- have access to range of training opportunities which will help with your personal development and career progression
We are challenging ourselves to become a more diverse and inclusive organisation. We recognise that recruitment and inclusion of individuals with diverse skills, perspectives and backgrounds will bring real strength to the council and our communities. We have a commitment to equality and welcome applications from everyone.
We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. We offer an interview to everyone who declares a disability and meets the essential criteria for the role.
We are keen to make our interviews accessible. Let us know on your job application if you have a disability and need any reasonable adjustments.
We also look for applicants who share our commitment to our behaviours. We will ask you to evidence when you have demonstrated them as part of the selection process.
If appointed, the personal information we collect from you will be shared with Cifas who will use it to prevent fraud, other unlawful or dishonest conduct, malpractice, and other seriously improper conduct. If any of these are detected, you could be refused certain services or employment. Your personal information will also be used to verify your identity. Further details of how your information will be used by us and Cifas, and your data protection rights, can be found at https://www.cifas.org.uk/fpn.
This role is UK based and we will need to establish your Right to Work as part of the appointment process.
We use generic job descriptions and person specifications. This means the job title on any attachments may differ from the job title in the advert. We may provide specific information in a context statement if relevant.
We cannot accept CVs in the place of an application form as we need the same range of information from all our candidates.
Find out more about how to apply.
