Didcot Garden Town Project Officer

**Salary and grade**: Grade 6 - £37,891 up to a maximum of £43,191 per year.

**Duration of role**: Full-time - 2 Years Fixed Term Contract

**Hours per week**: 37 hours per week

**Location**: Hybrid - Working from Home/Abbey House, Abingdon

Our Garden Communities service works across South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils. The Garden Communities service collaborates on delivery of all three garden communities in South and Vale: Berinsfield Garden Village, Dalton Barracks Garden Village and Didcot Garden Town (DGT).

The Garden Communities Project Officer will support the Garden Communities Team Leader and Community Wellbeing Service Manager to deliver a wide range of new and existing projects to help shape all three of the garden communities. The role will support transitioning the Garden Communities programme from strategic planning to project implementation. This work contributes to meeting our committed targets of delivering 15,000 new homes and 20,000 new jobs complemented by the correct infrastructure in Didcot alone. A further 1,700 in Berinsfield and 3,950 in Dalton Barracks.

Our work is collaborative in nature and requires working closely with officers on other work streams and in other agencies. Work may include the procurement and management of outside consultants to complete projects.

The work of the team is multi-disciplinary and covers a variety of projects including active travel and wayfinding, advancing the green agenda, the built environment, placemaking, public art, community facilities, community development and stewardship. The team will lead the delivery of the Garden Communities working closely with the relevant Board’s and Steering Groups. The team will routinely engage with the community and a variety of public and private stakeholders.

**Main duties and responsibilities**:

- Prioritise a varied workload and completing various projects/tasks to meet deadlines
- Maintain project plans, ensure actions are completed to a deadline
- Continuously seek opportunities to improve tasks, processes and procedures
- Provide project management support for the team
- Any other duties that are commensurate with the role and functions of the team

Specific to this service
- Organising project management, consultant, and stakeholder meetings in a project lead role
- Implementing work plans that respond to the priorities set by the Councils and relevant Board
- Supporting the procurement of consultants to prepare and deliver on time and on budget
- Supporting public presentations to agencies, community organisations and internal teams
- Participating on project teams for the development of all projects as cited in the Delivery Plan
- Planning and executing community engagement and consultation events
- Following a spending plan for infrastructure and liaising with teams to deliver on capital projects
- Representing the garden communities’ priorities and principles to achieve the best outcomes
- Prepare funding bids funding opportunities by the identification and presentation of data and research
- Communicating progress on all aspects of work in a clear and concise way

About you
- experience and skills in project management (minimum of two years)
- previous experience supporting an advisory board or committee setting
- community engagement or public consultation related to public projects
- in-depth knowledge and experience of one of the following technical areas: active travel, biodiversity, landscaping, environment, planning, health and wellbeing, placemaking, development and regeneration (Desirable)
- local government experience and political awareness preferred (Desirable)

Key competencies and behaviours
- a successful project manager who is energetic, determined and positive
- well-developed communication skills written, graphic and verbal
- fluent in use of IT systems, in particular excel, word, adobe and powerpoint
- ability to manage logistics to support public or board meetings
- able to communicate and collaborate, seeking the views and opinions of others
- an inclusive team player who achieves results alongside others
- displays accountability and responsibility
- able to identify and then provide solutions to problems
- aware of own strengths and weaknesses and committed to addressing areas for development
- willing to travel, as required

**Qualifications**:

- educated to degree level or equivalent level of experience
- full and current driving licence

About us
Our vision and values are important to the councils and we expect you to support them and embed them in the way we work.

Our vision
We are seen as being customer-focussed, approachable and business-like. We are honest and open and are renowned for providing high quality cost effective services.

Our values
- We act with integrity and show respect
- We are all accountable
- We are passionate about our business
- We strive for simplicity
- We love success

The benefits we offer
- A basic 24 days