New Towns and Homes Accelerator Senior Officer - ( Ref : 6371 )

Job summary

This position is based Nationally

Job description

Join us in shaping a future where nature and people thrive. Whether you're drawn to hands-on conservation or playing a vital part behind the scenes, your work at Natural England will support lasting benefits for the environment and society.

Our Role

Natural England is the Government’s adviser for the natural environment and the Nature regulator with a wide range of statutory duties and powers. We provide the evidence, expertise and advice to recover Nature and shape better places for people to live. We do

this working through and with others.

Strategic Outcomes for Nature

Our strategy is framed through four strategic outcomes. Each of these outcomes reinforces and amplifies the others, and together they address environmental, social and economic actions critical to thriving nature.

• Recovering Nature – Increased scale and quality of places where nature thrives.
• Building Better Places – Greener homes and infrastructure create healthier, more

investable places, recognising we live better where nature thrives around us.

• Improving Health and Wellbeing – Build nature into everyday life so people can support, access and benefit from nature, wherever they live.
• Delivering Security through Nature – Nature helps us adapt to the threats of a

changing climate and improves our national security, supporting more resilient food production, healthy soils, clean and plentiful water and clean air.

Find out more about the work of Natural England at Natural England’s Strategy: Natural England’s Strategy: Recovering Nature for Growth, Health and Security - GOV.UK

The Team

Do you want to make a real difference, working in a high priority area, securing significant environmental gains in the present and the future? Do you enjoy working in and leading a team? If so, this role may interest you as an opportunity to create a better future for people and nature.

The roles are based across England in our Area Teams. Some travel may be required.

Natural England’s Area Teams use a range of mechanisms including land management and planning advice, engagement with stakeholders and direct management of our own land, to achieve the protection and enhancement of biodiversity and landscapes within its area.

Natural England’s new Strategy includes making a shift from isolated interventions to nature recovery happening at scale, ensuring our efforts deliver lasting improvement across whole landscapes and seascapes. As part of this, our sustainable development work is helping build better places and ensure nature is designed into development and improve health and wellbeing by building nature into everyday life so people can support, access and benefit from nature, wherever they live.

Natural England is uniquely positioned to shape the next generation of New Towns and help facilitate the government ambition to deliver 1.5 million new homes in the UK. This is an exciting opportunity to reimagine urban development and create nature rich, vibrant, inclusive and sustainable New Towns, and make a strong contribution to the delivery of housing development through the New Homes Accelerator programme, which focuses on unblocking and accelerating large housing developments whilst maximising opportunities for nature recovery.

Job description

Key Tasks/Principal Accountabilities

• Work closely with NE’s national Homes Accelerator and/or national New Towns leads to identify and address specific thematic issues causing delays to large housing development sites and provide proactive advice and support to developers and local planning authorities to expedite the development process.
• Promote the benefits of early engagement with Natural England and the opportunity to revisit solutions and opportunities for the natural environment.
• Build partnerships with customers and stakeholders to resolve complex issues affecting housing proposals. Provide clear, pragmatic, evidence-based advice, seeking opportunities to maximising delivery through our discretionary advice service (DAS).
• Build trusted relationships with local planning authorities, developers and wider partners, using your advice and influence to embed nature and its benefits into design and development.
• Be creative and solution focussed, using your knowledge of placemaking, green infrastructure (GI), ecology and landscape to show how development and nature can work holistically to achieve healthy resilient places where people want to live and work.
• Work closely with national specialists and coordinators to provide support and advice to developers, local authorities, master planners and communities in designing New Towns and in support of our Lead Environmental Regulator role with other Arms-Length Bodies (e.g. Environment Agency).
• Use tools such as the GI Standards, GI Design Guide, and Natural England’s strategic mapping to unlock opportunities for multifunctional green and blue spaces, climate adaptation and community wellbeing.
• Engage with environmental issues at a strategic scale to streamline regulation for the benefit of nature and growth, supporting the design and implementation of strategic mitigation schemes which can unlock housing at scale.
• Enable developers to use tools such as GI Standards and Environmental Delivery Plans (EDPs) (as these are developed) to secure planning approvals and gains for people and nature.
• Integrate mechanisms such as Local Nature Recovery Strategies, (LNRS) strategic mitigation schemes, health and inclusion approaches to support high-quality urban placemaking.
• Support and work collaboratively with other sustainable development advisers within the team, including support at external and internal meetings, providing a clear steer and consistent advice on complex issues affecting housing delivery and escalating risk through appropriate channels.
• Contribute to the broader leadership of the area team through active participation in cross-team groups and briefings to NE senior leadership, ensuring consistency in advice on large housing proposals.

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

• The ability to see the big picture, so you can steer sustainable development work within the context of Natural England’s Strategy 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.

Benefits

At Natural England, we support a healthy work-life balance by offering full-time, part-time, and flexible working arrangements.

We provide excellent opportunities for career progression, training, and development tailored to your role. This includes ten days annually for personal learning and development, plus three additional days for volunteering.

You’ll receive a generous leave allowance of 33 days per year (pro rata), access to the Civil Service Pension scheme with a 28.97% employer contribution, and a range of benefits such as shopping discounts and a cycle-to-work scheme. Staff can also join the Civil Service Sport club for discounts on sports, leisure activities, and social events.

We are committed to fairness, equality, and inclusivity. Our employee-led diversity networks help foster a welcoming environment where everyone feels valued and supported.

Locations

Natural England has adopted 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. Staff are expected to attend their associated office for 20% of their contractual hours.

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: online map of Natural England office locations

Pay

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

You will become an active member of the relevant local leadership community, the group of senior Natural England staff in each of the localities across England who we ask to provide support and co-ordination for the local group of staff.

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. We now provide primary interview questions in advance for all formal recruitments.

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

• Technical Skills and Knowledge
• Personal Effectiveness
• Putting People at the Heart of the Environment
• Work Delivery

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 Action.

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

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

If you are successful at the shortlisting stage, you will be invited to attend an interview via MS Teams or a suitable alternative, where you will be asked to give examples for all competencies as set out in the Job Description.

Please note: 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 for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Competencies

Competence 1

Professional competency

Detail

Technical Skills and Knowledge

Description

• Good knowledge of Natural England’s Green Infrastructure Framework and Standards, Biodiversity Net Gain and Nature Towns and Cities (Essential).
  • Technical expertise and applied experience of the planning system to shape environmental solutions for designated sites, protected landscapes and species (Essential).
  • Technical expertise in and experience of planning mechanisms and their application for nature recovery – e.g. Habitats Regulations Assessments, Development Plan process, Sustainability Appraisals, Environmental Impact Assessments (or others). Ability to understand new planning processes and how they might be applied to enable the delivery of enhanced nature recovery (Essential).
  • Knowledge of how local authorities work, and/or basic ecological or land management knowledge, is also useful but not essential (Desirable).

Competence 2

Professional competency

Detail

Personal Effectiveness

Description

• Use clear and appropriate language, communication styles and techniques that engage your audience (Practitioner).
  • Make and explain objective decisions which combine your professional judgment and evidence (Expert).
  • Be ambitious, identify and adopt ways to make improvements in your team and throughout your organisation and inspire others to act (Practitioner).

Competence 3

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 the organisation you represent (Practitioner).
  • Work proactively and collaboratively with stakeholders and partners to identify and secure opportunities to deliver gains for people and nature (Practitioner).

Competence 4

Professional competency

Detail

Work Delivery

Description

• Understand your role in good governance, and comply with delegations, policies, and procedures (Practitioner).
  • Manage and deliver your work to meet agreed targets and deadlines (Expert).

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £37,950, Natural England contributes £10,994 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

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.

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

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 : Jemma Sharman
• Email : jemma.sharman@naturalengland.org.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : defra-recruitment-enquiries@resourcing.soprasteria.co.uk

Further information

https://networkrecruitment.tal.net/vx/appcentre-7/brand-4/spa-1/candidate/so/pm/1/pl/8/opp/6371-6371-New-Towns-and-Homes-Accelerator-Senior-Officer/en-GB

Attachments

DEF-001h - Candidate Pack Natural England v2.3 Opens in new window (docx, 1325kB)