Recreation Craftsperson - New Forest

Job summary

What you’ll do...

We are looking for a Recreation Craftsperson to complement our current team. You will be working as an integral part of the Forestry England New Forest Recreation Craftsperson team to maintain recreation facilities and site infrastructure: Car parks, cycle routes and trails within the forest to ensure that we deliver a high-quality visitor experience. Working across The New Forest, you will also work with the wider Beat teams to maintain our visitor facilities, making sure our visitors have a smooth, inclusive and enjoyable experience. You will help cultivate a supportive and positive work environment that encourages teamwork, productivity and individual growth.

Please see the job description below for more information and details about what we need from you.

Where you’ll work…

South District We are Forestry England. We are the country’s largest land manager, caring for the nation’s forests for people, nature and the economy. The foundation of our organisation is our world-class sustainable management of the nation’s forests.

Our South England Forest District team is made up of around 170 people with a diverse range of roles - from foresters and wildlife rangers to civil engineers, and ecologists to marketing professionals. We all contribute towards the management of 46,000 hectares of public forest estate that stretch from Sussex to Dorset, and from Berkshire to the Isle of Wight. Nearly all of our forests are within either a National Park or Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Much of this forest is of high national importance for nature conservation and wildlife, and of international importance for biodiversity. South England Forest District is therefore responsible for land that includes Special Areas of Conservation (for habitats), Special Protection Areas (for birds) and Ramsar sites (for wetlands). We also provide public access and recreation in our forests, with nearly 50 million visits every year to South England Forest District.

Job description

Key responsibilities & accountabilities

• Act as the face of Forestry England on site, by being approachable for questions and engage with visitors in a polite and appropriate manner.
• Inspect, manage, and maintain recreational facilities in line with Forestry England’s Health & Safety standards to ensure visitors have a safe and enjoyable experience.
• Undertake forest estate management operations. This includes reporting of fly-tipping, litter picking, maintenance of equipment, restoration and creation of various habitats, and improvement of the landscape such as felling, fencing, pruning, and planting of trees and shrubs.
• Manage vegetation along recreation trails, cycle paths and car parks through use of chainsaw and brush cutters.
• Contribute to the delivery of key programmes by providing a support service in delivering essential surveys, events, and sales.
• Work closely with volunteers to ensure they have a safe and positive experience in line with our volunteer management processes.
• Assist with onsite communication between recreation and land management teams, franchise operations, neighbours and wider stakeholders to maintain close working relationships and to improve the customer experience.

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

Typical tasks include, but not exclusively:

• Install and repair signs, gates, benches and barriers
• Upgrading car park and trails surfaces
• Litter picking and removal of illegal fly tipping
• Fencing
• Vegetation cutting
• Trail safety inspection and trail repairs
• Clear and repair culverts
• Yard maintenance

Person specification

Skills, knowledge & experience
Essential professional and technical experience

• Operate and maintain tools and resources to required standards and ensure that a safe working site and safe methods are planned and maintained
• Work constructively and effectively with immediate work colleagues and the wider Forest District Team
• Capable of planning, undertaking and recording practical tasks without supervision, planning tasks efficiently
• Take pride in their work and act professionally when dealing with members of the public, neighbours and other stakeholders
• Be confident and engaging with visitors whilst offering excellent customer service
• Commitment to achieving results through working flexibly and supportively both on your own and as part of a team
• Competent IT user with experience in MS Office suite of applications
• This role requires driving vehicles, a valid UK driving licence is required

Desirable professional and technical experience

• Strimming/brush cutter/clearing saw/pole saw
• Woodworking basic knowledge(Drills, saws, Routers)
• 380mm Felling, crosscutting and maintenance
• Tractor/FMO training
• CPCS- wheeled excavator, articulated roller & dumper
• 4x4 driving training

Qualifications
Essential

• First Aid (+F)
  

Desirable

• Lantra/NPTC chainsaw certification
• Underground apparatus location qualification
• Play inspections- RPII
• Fencing qualifications

Behaviours

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

• Working Together
• Managing a Quality Service
• Making Effective Decisions
• Delivering at Pace

Technical skills

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

• You will be assessed on a practical section

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £26,959, Forestry Commission contributes £7,810 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 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.

Along with a practical section you will be assessed on the following Behaviours at interview which are –

Working Together
Managing a Quality Service
Making Effective Decisions
Delivering at Pace
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 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 Recreation Craftsperson (PB6B) Opens in new window (pdf, 124kB)