Appointments to the Forestry Commission are made at the entry level of the salary quoted above except in exceptional circumstances where a candidates’ experience and skills may justify a higher starting salary.
The successful candidate will be required to undertake an Enhanced Disclosure Check under the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme and in line with the cabinet office Baseline Security Standard.
Scottish Lowlands Forest District covers the central belt of Scotland including Ayr, Glasgow, Stirling Edinburgh and southern Fife. The district has a priorities in terms of the Central Scotland Green Network (CSGN) and delivering the Woodlands In And Around Town (WIAT) programme in Scotland. The district has 62 staff covering an area of 25,000 hectares and around 15,000 hectares of woodland.
3.6 million people, or 60% of Scotland’s population, live within the district concentrated in Glasgow and the lower Clyde Valley and in Edinburgh, but with large towns along all main transport corridors. The communities we serve are some of Scotland’s most deprived and most of the communities with protected characteristics. There is both a legal and social imperative that we provide a service, level of engagement, and forest welcome that encompasses this diverse population. The National Planning Framework recognises the value of green space near to where people line and work designating the Central Scotland Green Network Area a national planning priority. The district leads on national delivery of the social policy agenda, health, skills, education, and diversity work. We have a lead on Woods in and Around Towns delivery and most of the major CSGN greening delivery. We are the primary lead on greening vacant and derelict land. This role is part of the Communities, Recreation Team (CRT) in the district, which is subdivided into five geographic beats. Each Beat is led by a Community & Recreation Manager (previously known as a Beat Forester) with a team including a CRT Work Supervisor, Community Ranger Team and two Woodland Wardens.
The 34 staff in the district CRT team will deliver around £3.7M work of projects and site management next year with an income of around £1.7M. The team deliver on a broad range of areas including vacant and derelict land, new WIAT acquisitions, community engagement, path upgrades, education and health projects such as branching out. The district work closely with Central Scotland Conservancy to deliver the Central Scotland Engagement Strategy. The CRT team are guided by the 2012 CRT Strategy for Scottish Lowlands Forest District.
In the Recreation and Community Manager role it is your responsibility to act as the lead individual for the sites within your beat. This will mean you work closely with the Planning Team in helping to develop the Land Management.
Plans, by building the community and recreation thinking into the plan as well as take a key role in the stakeholder analysis and community engagement work within the plan. It also means you will work closely with Forest Operations, Deer Management and the Estates team in terms of ongoing operations, through the Work Plan System and liaison with neighbours and wider community.
You have line management responsibility for the Beat Staff which includes a CRT Work Supervisor, Community Ranger and Woodland Wardens. You will guide this team to deliver maintenance and create new recreation infrastructure for the WIAT sites in your beat.
A key part of your role is the health and safety management of the public and the staff within the beat. This work includes considering public safety, through the Work Plan system, of all operational and recreation activity in the beat. You are responsible for facility risk inspections and the maintenance programme for recreation facilities, guided by OGB42.
A key part of the role is designing and delivering the community engagement work within your beat, this includes identifying key audiences and developing education and heath delivery, targeting the most needy communities and missing audiences.
You will be responsible for developing and delivering new recreation and community projects within your beat including paths, furniture, art installation, interpretation, visitor zone improvements.
Line Management of Beat Team.
Act as lead contact for individual sites in beat for both internal and external audiences.
Health & Safety of Recreation Facilities and Staff within Beat.
Community Engagement planning for Beat.
Delivery of Recreation and Community Projects within Beat, including budget management.
Experience
Essential Proven experience of leading a team or demonstrates ability to do so Desirable Consulting and engaging with Communities, particularly in an Urban Environment Developing, managing and maintaining recreation paths and infrastructure Developing recreation site plans / visitor experience plans
Professional & Technical Expertise
Essential Business Planning and Budget Management Desirable Formal education in Forestry or related Environmental Degree Project Management Seeing the Big Picture
Develop understanding of how your work and your team’s work supports achievement of Departmental priorities and delivery to the citizens
Focus on the overall goal and intent of what you are trying to achieve, not just the task
Changing and Improving
Conduct regular reviews of what and who is required to make a project/activity successful and make on-going improvements
Help colleagues, customers and corporate partners to understand changes and why they have been introduced
Making Effective Decisions
Demonstrate accountability and make unbiased decisions
Speak with the relevant people in order to obtain the most accurate information and get advice when unsure of how to proceed
Leading and Communicating
Display enthusiasm around goals and activities – adopting a positive approach when interacting with others
Express ideas effectively, both orally and in writing, and with sensitivity and respect for others
Collaborating and Partnering
Take responsibility for creating a working environment that encourages equality, diversity and inclusion
Building Capability for All
Take ownership of team and individual development by identifying capability needs and consistently achieving development objectives
Take account of the diverse contributions of team members and delegate work to improve capabilities of all
Achieving Commercial Outcomes
Understand that all actions have a cost and choose the most effective way to do something in a resource efficient way
Deliver Value for Money
Monitor resources against plans and budget, identify and flag up variances
Managing a Quality Service
Work with team to set priorities, create clear plans and manage all work to meet the needs of the customer and the business
Keep internal teams, customers and delivery partners fully informed of plans and possibilities
Deliver at Pace
Take ownership of problems in your area of responsibility
Remain positive and focused on achieving outcomes despite setbacks
Check your and your team’s performance against outcomes, make improvement for suggestions or take corrective action when problems are identified
The duties of this post require the applicant to have a full current driving licence that enables them to drive in the UK. However, the Forestry Commission is willing to consider any proposals put forward by applicants that would allow them to do the job by other means.
Applications will be received up until 11.59pm on the closing date
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