Forest Planner

Job summary

What you’ll do...

As a Forest Planner with Forestry England, you will help shape the long-term future of some of England’s most diverse and valued landscapes. You’ll lead the development of forest management plans that set the direction for how our woodlands are cared for over the next decades, balancing objectives for biodiversity, forest resilience, sustainable timber production and public access. Working collaboratively with colleagues across Forestry England and a wide range of external partners, you’ll bring together evidence, data and professional judgement to produce UKFS‑compliant Forest Plans and help maintain our UKWAS certification.

The role combines strategic planning with practical delivery. You’ll use GIS and field surveys to inform decisions, consult widely with stakeholders, and support operational teams by providing high-quality data, mapping and specialist advice. Some of your time will be spent outdoors, often working independently, with flexibility to manage your own workload. You’ll be part of a supportive district team and a national network of forest planning professionals, with access to tailored training, mentoring and development opportunities to grow your expertise and career.

Where you’ll work...

The role will be based in the Chilterns office near Aston Clinton HP22 5NF, with flexibility for some optional blended working. Please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas.

The district consists of myriad of habitats from the largest productive coniferous forest, mixed broadleaved woodlands, heathland, chalk and acid grasslands, to streams in diverse landscapes in south-east of England. We are in the forefront of the climate change pressures, but also of the pro-active planning to ensure that the forests thrive and continue to support society in the future. Our plants outline long-term view of suitable silviculture systems and ambition to create more diverse, healthy and connected habitats. We are accelerating our efforts in restoring Ancient Woodlands and trialling new tree species best suited for future climate.

The role will primarily focus on Chilterns, Bedfordshire, Weald and Kent areas of the East District.

Job description

Key responsibilities & accountabilities

Forest Planning

• Collect and verify data relating to Forest Plan areas to inform the forest planning process

• Design and prescribe long term forest management in industry best practice Forest Plans, which deliver resilient forests ensuring that the land is sustainably managed for people, wildlife and timber

• Communicate, consult and build consensus with a wide range of Forestry England staff, statutory and non-governmental organisations to ensure proposed plans are in compliance with policies, UK Woodland Assurance Standard and UK Forest Standard

Data, mapping and monitoring

• Interrogate and manage Geographic information Systems

• Provide support in areas of data analysis to inform business decisions, including timber production and long-term financial models

• Undertake and coordinate forest and habitat surveys to improve data and maintain monitoring programme

Operational support

• Support teams in areas of survey, data management and mapping to ensure all opportunities and constraints are fully considered in forest management and operational decisions

• Contribute to other project teams as a forest planning specialist

Project management

• Project manage a range of small to medium-sized projects related to forest planning, biodiversity, and forest resilience programmes, including project planning and the management of delegated budgets.

General responsibilities

• Champion high standards of health and safety within the team, ensuring compliance with relevant legislation and guidance

• Be familiar with and appropriately adhere to Forestry England Policies and Procedures

• Undertake any other duties, reasonably requested by the Planning Manager

The duties of this post require the applicant to sometimes travel to remote locations that are not accessible by public transport. You will therefore need to hold a full and current driving licence that enables you to drive in the UK. We are willing to consider any proposals put forward by applicants that would allow them to do the job by other means.

And any other tasks, reasonably requested by your line manager.

Person specification

Skills, knowledge & experience

Essential professional and technical experience

• Good team worker with the ability to work alone and use own initiative as necessary

• Excellent written communication skills

• Excellent verbal communication skills with an ability to bring people together and gain consensus

• Working with Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to manipulate and analyse spatial data

• Competent IT user with experience in MS Office suite of applications

• Knowledge or experience of land / environment management issues

Desirable professional and technical experience

• Knowledge and understanding of forestry industry standards and best practice, including UKWAS and UKFS

• Experience managing projects, including managing budgets and project teams

Qualifications

Essential

• Degree or Higher National Diploma (HND) or significant equivalent experience in forestry or land management, Geographical Information Systems (GIS), geography or environmental sciences

• Full driving license that allows you to drive in the UK

Desirable

• Membership of the Institute of Chartered Foresters (ICF) or a commitment to achieve membership.

Licences

• Full driving license that allows you to drive in the UK

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Changing and Improving
• Communicating and Influencing
• Making Effective Decisions

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• To be confirmed prior to interview

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £33,854, Forestry Commission contributes £9,807 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 employer contribution of 28.97%

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

How to apply

You will be asked to write a 200 word statement on your relevant experience and career history, along with a personal statement of no more than 500 words. You will be assessed on both during sifting. More details about how to apply are listed on the application form.

You will be assessed on experience, a technical skill and behaviour-based questions during your interview.

The Behaviours being assessed at interview are

• Seeing the big picture
• Changing and improving
• Communicating and influencing
• Making effective decisions

If candidates pass the interview but are not the leading candidate they can be placed on a reserve list. We may offer candidates on the reserve list for this role the opportunity to be considered for other roles at the same or lower pay bands.

In the event of a large number of applications, a pre-sift may be carried out.

Successful candidates will undergo a criminal record check and the government baseline personnel security standard check.

If you require any reasonable adjustments, please email fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk.

If you're planning to use AI to support your application, please ensure you've read our guidelines here first.

Read more about our application process and working with us on the Forestry England website.

Feedback

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.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.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 : FC Recruitment Team
• Email : fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk

Further information

Our recruitment process is underpinned by the principle of appointment on the basis of fair and open competition and appointment on merit, as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with these principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should in the first instance contact FCE by email: englandhr.services@forestryengland.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can contact the Civil Service Commission, which regulates all Civil Service recruitment.

Attachments

Forestry England Job Description - Forest Planner (PB5) Opens in new window (pdf, 176kB)