Woodland Creation Officer

About the role
The Woodland Creation Project Manager post holder will work across the County, within the Natural and Historic Environment Team, to deliver the Woodland Creation Project and report into the Councils’ Climate Change and Environment programme. Working with land managers, parish councils, and local communities to identify and develop places for tree and hedge planting schemes to increase overall canopy cover across the whole county. This role requires experience of working with a variety of orgnaisations, developing tree and hedge planting schemes, and a good level of knowledge and understanding of project management, reporting and project tools to effectively monitor and manage projects and workstreams.

**For more information or to chat about this opportunity please contact**:
What will you be doing?
The postholder will be responsible for the coordination, project management and delivery of the County Council’s Woodland Creation Accelerator project, directing, guiding and managing project delivery to ensure objectives are delivered to a high quality, forecast delivery times and budget targets

The post holder will lead on the internal and external engagement associated with the Woodland Creation Accelerator Project as well as developing plans, guidance and resources regarding tree planting across communities. Decisions will be made in conjunction with the Project team unless related specifically to tasks assigned to them.

Setting up a method to monitor and report project progress regularly to the programme manager, project sponsor and project board. Proactively and positively provide challenge and suggestions to improving the project’s delivery in relation to ensuring that the benefits and outcomes are delivered.

Liaising with key stakeholders to establish the scope and definition of the projects, secure agreement to timescales and the provision of the necessary resources and confirm the required outcomes and success criteria by which the project will be evaluated. Ensure that the project objectives align with the strategic objectives of the organisation.

Procure and manage consultants/ specialist teams in line with the Council’s processes to support the delivery of the Woodland Creation Accelerator project.

Using skills and experience of environmental policies and legislation, develop a pipeline of high-quality tree planting schemes across Cambridgeshire, advising on appropriate scheme design to achieve biodiversity gains and benefits for people, using their knowledge of tree planting.

Facilitate effective liaison between Cambridgeshire County Council and other partners, including landowners, district councils and conservation organisations. Utilise experience of public engagement to determine the most appropriate approach, for example meetings (in-person and online), written correspondence or other methods of communication.

Ensure the timely preparation of grant claims and compile and deliver reports on delivery progress to the project team.

Demonstrate an awareness and understanding of the County Councils’ equality, diversity and inclusion policies.

About you
We are looking for someone who has the following experience and skills:

- Has a good in depth background of either nature conservation of woodland/forestry design/management
- Be able to demonstrate experience of planning, implementing and evaluating environment projects
- Excellent communication skills, working with a wide range of stakeholders
- Be able to develop strong, effective and collaborative working partnerships with diverse groups of stakeholders
- Experience of working with landowners and others to develop successful tree planting schemes

About us
Cambridgeshire is a great place to work and live with a diverse population, an urban centre in Cambridge, historic Isle of Ely, Huntingdon and St Ives as well as more rural landscapes.

Our four values are central to our culture, driving everything we do.

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, along with our employee network 'IDEAL' and self-organised peer support groups help us to foster an inclusive, supportive and safe working environment where people feel valued, respected, and empowered. We collect relevant diversity data for monitoring as part of the recruitment process to understand the diversity of our applicants and monitor any trends throughout the recruitment processes so that we can take meaningful action.

Visit our jobs and careers section to find out more about our wide range of learning and development opportunities; apprenticeships; our wellbeing package; staff benefits; our commitment to equality, diversity and Inclusion.

Our benefits
We value our colleagues in Cambridgeshire County Council and have developed a number of benefits in addition to the basics like annual leave, sick pay, pension and mileage
- A comprehensive **wellbeing package** to cover **all aspects of wellbeing**, both in and out of work, which can also be accessed by your fa