Biodiversity Officer in Preston

The Role  

The Council wishes to appoint a motivated professionally qualified ecologist to lead on the development and delivery of its Biodiversity Duty responsibilities.

The delivery of new responsibilities require a new skill and knowledge set at the Council.

The introduction of Biodiversity Duties, including achieving mandatory Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG), provides new obligations and new opportunities for Lancaster district to enhance its ecological capital whilst supporting actions to address the climate emergency.  

Reporting to the Service Manager for Planning and Housing Strategy the appointee will be the Council’s only ecologist and will sit within the Heritage and Design Team which is a part of the Planning and Climate Change Service.  

The key duties of the post will be to explore and develop Biodiversity Duty responsibilities including BNG, approaches and protocols, whilst investigating deliverable opportunities for ecological enhancement using BNG contributions. 

As the first holder of this new post the appointee will have the unique opportunity to shape the Council’s approach to BNG.

You will be much involved in discussions with colleagues in other Council Services as the authority establishes its own objectives and processes.  

The appointee will be part of a well-resourced, well-motivated, and welcoming wider team which has been much engaged recently in initiatives to address the climate emergency.

A full current UK driving licence is essential to this post.

As a result you will be required to sign up to the authorised external DVLA driving licence validation organisation that we use to manage and monitor our employees driving licence data.

This post is permanent.

The hours of work for this position are 37 per week, working Monday to Friday and you will be based at Lancaster Town Hall.

The Council currently operates an excellent Flexible Working Hours Scheme which applies to this post.

Subject to the needs of this business, this may allow employees to work between the hours of 6:00am-10:30pm.

For further information or an informal discussion please contact Maurice Brophy, Service Manager – Planning and Housing Strategy, on 01524 582330. 

About You

This is a role for a fully qualified professional ecologist.

You will identify with our organisational values of Pride, Ownership, Working Together and Ambition.

• You will hold one or more degrees in ecology or ecology with other environmental management disciplines and have Membership of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management.
• You will be knowledgeable about local authority Biodiversity Duty and BNG legislation and responsibilities and approaches for delivering BNG through the planning system.
• You will have the personal confidence needed to assuredly represent the Council and advocate its aims and objectives on the Biodiversity Duty with the community, stakeholders, partners, and developers.
• You will be comfortable working with a wide range of other professionals to develop sound approaches to delivering BNG.

Our Benefits

Lancaster is a great place to work, as well as being part of something special you will also benefit from:

• Generous annual leave allowance
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• A range of employee benefits including discounted gym membership, cycle to work scheme, the opportunity to purchase extra time off, as well as discounts on days out, activities and retail.

Lancaster City Council has unanimously declared a climate emergency and will therefore work towards reducing carbon emissions to net-zero by 2030.

As part of this role, you will be expected to participate and work towards reducing both carbon emissions and the impacts of climate change.

We are an Investor in People, Forces Friendly employer, and an Armed Forces Covenant committed organisation.

We welcome applications from defence reserves and other members of our armed forces community.

We are an inclusive employer and welcome applications from all parts of our community.

At Lancaster City Council we aim to have a diverse workforce that is representative of the district that we serve, and provide a working environment where each employee feels able to bring their whole self to work.

We welcome applications from all sections of our community and provide several supportive and inclusive workplace networks and safe spaces for employees to feel connected.

Our workplace wellbeing strategy drives our commitment to staff wellbeing initiatives and ensuring that our organisation is a great place to work for all.

We are a disability confident committed employer.

Please note that due to the volume of applications we receive we are unable to update all applicants individually.

If you do not receive a response from us within 2 weeks of the closing date then your application will have unfortunately been unsuccessful in progressing to interview.

Provisional Interview Dates: Friday 19 / Monday 22 July 2024.