Countryside Ranger

**About The Role**:
We are looking for an enthusiastic and highly motivated person to join the dynamic Greenspace Ranger Team in Purbeck, you will help to manage and maintain the public rights of way, sites and verges in the Purbeck area. A strong customer focus, as you engage with residents, members of the public, and good practical skills are essential to ensure work is to a high standard.

This is an exciting opportunity to play a pivotal role in delivering diverse Countryside management in Purbeck. You’ll need an enthusiastic ‘can do’ attitude, a good working knowledge of countryside management, experience and qualifications using power tools and a knowledge of rights of way. You will be managing and supervising a small team of staff and volunteers to carry out the many aspects of Greenspace work. You’ll need good communication skills and have a good understanding of health and safety issues including roadside working.

As Purbeck Ranger you will be based in Wareham in the heart of the beautiful area of Purbeck. We have a diverse range of habitats, sites and areas to manage which include limestone, heathland, riversides and woodland. You will be working with a small dedicated team, around the area improving the rights of way, road verges and sites.

As the Purbeck Area Ranger you will be managing the day to day operation of the small team to maintain the public rights of way, including the South West Coast Path, sites and verges across Purbeck. You will be prioritising tasks, undertaking the practical work, handling customer queries and liaising with landowners and councillors.

Your work will benefit the many users of the area by providing well maintained and accessible public rights of way and sites. As an integral part of the innovative cut and collect verge cutting round you will be directly involved in the improvement of the wildlife habitats along the road verges, increasing wildflowers and biodiversity, through your urban and rural verge cutting.

Your day may involve prioritising work for yourself and the team, taking the cut & collect mower to cut the urban verges, building a step on the coast path, opening up an overgrown footpath or talking to a landowner about issues or improving access.

You will be supervising the team of rangers, volunteers and placements and following the work plan and planning the future work programme for the area.

You will be aware of Health and Safety regulations and be used to ensuring tasks and work practices are adhering to H&S requirements. As well as this, you'll possess good interpersonal skills and be able to undertake the physical requirements of the role.

You will need
- Proactively record through inspection further maintenance or
- enforcement work required on rights of way, identifying tasks
- Help prepare and implement Risk Assessments and Safe
- A relevant qualification in countryside management i.e. National Certificate, National Diploma or minimum of NVQ Level 2 in Environment Conservation
- Relevant practical experience with a Countryside / ROW management organisation
- Experience of working with people in difficult and challenging circumstances and the ability to deal with potential situations of conflict
- Experience in assessing and eliminating / minimising risk
- A good working knowledge of ROW / Access law, countryside law, national, regional and local policy
- Basic knowledge and experience in information technology, especially Microsoft Office and GIS software
- High awareness of a wide range of health and safety issues and a working knowledge of assessing and eliminating / minimising risk
- To complete a range of practical countryside / ROW management tasks to a high standard
- To be able to carry out vegetation clearance using machinery and hand tools
- Effective communication skills i.e. an ability to communicate with members of the public, landowners, farmers, local community groups, volunteers, partner organisations and colleagues
- Proven organisational abilities to plan and organise work
- To maintain high standards in project delivery and day to day work
- To be motivated, enthusiastic and adaptable
- To work as part of a team and on own using their own initiative
- Flexibility to work unsocial hours, including evenings, weekends and Bank Holidays
- Full driving licence

**Further Information**:
Provisional interview date is 24th April 2024

This role is UK based and we will need to establish your Right to Work as part of the appointment process.

We use generic job descriptions and person specifications. This means the job title on any attachments may differ from the job title in the advert. We may provide specific information in a context statement if relevant.

**About Us**:
**Dorset Council: A great place to work**

We’re passionate about making Dorset a great place to live, work and visit. Working for us should be no exception.

At Dorset Council we:

- provide more than 450 services to over 300,000 residents
- have am