Natural England
Coastal Higher Officer - ( Ref : 6702 )
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South East England
Job Summary
This position is based at Ashford or Worthing
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: Recovering Nature for Growth, Health and Security - GOV.UK
Job Description
This is a rewarding role with fantastic opportunities to secure positive environmental outcomes for the coastal environment within the general work area of Flood & Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM).
The main focus of this role is working with the Environment Agency on specific projects including coastal management projects and habitat compensation projects to reduce the impacts of FCERM on nature and achieve environmental benefits for nature.
The work will also cover Statutory planning applications at the coast within or nearby designated sites, including coastal management projects from Local Risk Authorities and private businesses or individuals. You will work to provide suitable advice to the Local Planning Authority and in some cases may provide pre-application advice to the project proposer.
Key Tasks/Principal Accountabilities
- Take ownership of FCERM project work, coordinating the provision of advice from Natural England, building expertise to deliver quality-assured and robust advice on major projects to regulates LPAs and MMO
- Provide advice on Habitats Regulations Assessments and Environmental Impact Assessments, Strategic Environmental Assessment, Construction
- Build partnerships with customers and stakeholders to resolve complex planning issues in order to support nature recovery
- Engage with and work alongside Natural England’s other work areas to enable join-up of advice for cases that cross the marine/coast/terrestrial, using the Local Nature Recovery Strategies as a base.
- Maintain and develop knowledge and understanding of current policy and legislative drivers in coastal conservation and environmental management
Knowledge, Skills & Experience
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This role will require good analytical and risk assessment skills to make reasoned, evidenced base and coherent decisions and recommendations in complex and uncertain situations.
- Experience of working with an array of partners and stakeholders to resolve complicated, and occasionally conflicting planning issues.
- Relevant natural environment degree or experience working at the coast.
- Technical background and understanding of flood management and coastal erosion management preferred (FCERM).
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 25 days per year (pro rata), increasing by one day for each year of service up to 30 days (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.
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. Please be aware that we reserve the right for roles that receive a high volume of applications to initially sift applications for one competence only.
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Competencies
Competence 1
Professional competency
Detail
Technical Skills and Knowledge
- Relevant natural environment background and experience of working in and around the coast. (Essential)
Competence 2
Professional competency
Detail
Personal Effectiveness
- Make and explain objective decisions which combine your professional judgement and evidence. (Practitioner)
- Act with integrity, addressing challenging issues and managing conflict through being open and objective. (Practitioner)
Competence 3
Professional competency
Detail
Putting People at the Heart of the Environment
- Nurture trusting partnerships and collaborate to achieve pragmatic outcomes that help deliver Natural England’s vision, mission and aims. (Practitioner)
- Understand the importance of people accessing and engaging with the natural environment, and how to balance their needs with nature conservation objectives. (Practitioner)
Competence 4
Professional competency
Detail
Work Delivery
- Manage and deliver your work to meet agreed targets and deadlines. (Practitioner)
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 the 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.
As with all roles in NE, these roles require office attendance of a minimum of 20% of the working time – one day per week for those who work full time, subject to any reasonable adjustments and/or existing contractual homeworking.
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.
Person specification
Please Refer To Job Description
Alongside your salary of £33,780, Natural England contributes £9,786 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
- 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%
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.
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