Senior Planning Ecologist | Cheltenham, UK

Overview

We are an ambitious and forward-thinking council. We are committed to making Cheltenham a better place to live and work, enabling communities and businesses to thrive whilst protecting what is good about our town.

Cheltenham Borough Council is a multi-award winning local authority with a strong Place Shaping role. The Council is increasingly involved directly in regeneration and growth initiatives to drive economic growth.

Biodiversity net gain (BNG) is a way of creating and improving natural habitats. BNG makes sure development has a measurably positive impact on biodiversity, compared to what was there before development takes place. From February 2024 developers of major schemes (April 2024 for many other non-major applications) must deliver biodiversity net gain of at least 10% ideally on site, but other options are available.

Your principal role will be to provide the council’s Development Management team (those that directly deal with planning applications) with the support and advice that they need to secure BNG through the planning application process. You will act as consultee on those applications to which BNG is applicable and provide a range of professional advice including (but not limited to) the adequacy of submitted BNG metrics, proposed BNG delivery approaches (on site/off site/others etc.), the BNG Plan as well as the discharge of relevant conditions and legal obligations.

You will be a solution-focussed individual, proactive in identifying any BNG related issues as early in the process as feasible and positive/supportive to applicants seeking to find solutions to those issues wherever possible.

The primary focus of this role is BNG support, which will be your priority, but you will also be required to provide other/general ecological support as required. This may involve the review of submitted ecological assessments as well as the review of material submitted to discharge ecological conditions.

An excellent pension scheme. You will be eligible to join the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).
A generous holiday entitlement of 26 days rising to 31 days after five years. Part-time employees receive a pro rata entitlement of 26 days.
A flexible and agile working environment. We aim to provide opportunities to work from home or elsewhere and offer flexibility in working hours.
A comprehensive programme of learning and development.
Two days paid time off for volunteering.
Enhanced maternity and paternity schemes.
An employee counselling service.
Free eye tests (for some posts) and contribution towards the cost of glasses.
A cycle to work scheme.
Low-cost town centre parking for some jobs, depending on work location.
A commitment to employee wellbeing.

To apply for this position please click on “apply now” at the bottom of this page to complete an application form and supporting statement together with your CV. Please tell us about your skills, knowledge, qualifications, experience and how they meet the criteria listed above and in the job description/person specification. It’s important that we’re a good fit for each other, so let us know what’s important to you and why you want to work for Cheltenham Borough Council.
The council is committed to promoting equality of opportunity, we welcome applications from all sections of the community.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

7th April

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