6473 - Senior Officer Tree Action Plan Delivery
Employer:
Natural England
Location:
Crewe
Pay:
£39,660 per year
Contract Type:
Permanent
Hours:
Full time
Disability Confident:
No
Closing Date:
30/04/2026
About this job
Join us in shaping a future where nature and people thrive.
Whether you're drawn to hands‑on conservation or playing a vital part behind the scenes, your work at Natural England will support lasting benefits for the environment and society.
Our Role Natural England is the Government’s adviser for the natural environment and the Nature regulator with a wide range of statutory duties and powers.
We provide the evidence, expertise and advice to recover Nature and shape better places for people to live.
We do this working through and with others.
Strategic Outcomes for Nature Our strategy is framed through four strategic outcomes.
Each of these outcomes reinforces and amplifies the others, and together they address environmental, social and economic actions critical to thriving nature.
Recovering Nature
Increased scale and quality of places where nature thrives.
Building Better Places
Greener homes and infrastructure create healthier, more investable places, recognising we live better where nature thrives around us.
Improving Health and Wellbeing
Build nature into everyday life so people can support, access and benefit from nature, wherever they live.
Delivering Security through Nature
Nature helps us adapt to the threats of a changing climate and improves our national security, supporting more resilient food production, healthy soils, clean and plentiful water and clean air.
Find out more about the work of Natural England at: Natural England’s Strategy: Recovering Nature for Growth, Health and Security
* GOV.UK Job description The Role Creating new woody habitats, whether woodlands, scrub, wood pasture, wet woodlands can play a vital role in reversing biodiversity loss and building climate resilience across England’s landscapes.
The Tree Action Plan Delivery (TAP‑D) team in Natural England comprises 23 officers spread across our Area Teams and our National Operations.
This role will be based in Natural England’s Cheshire to Lancashire Area Team and will help to deliver Natural England’s vision for Nature Recovery through leading on our Tree Action Plan Delivery and Woodland work.
The Area Team covers four counties of Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region and Lancashire.
It includes the uplands of Forest of Bowland and West Pennines through the diverse lowlands of Cheshire to the rich coastal habitats of the Irish Sea coast and its wealth of estuaries, and the large conurbations of Liverpool and Manchester.
You will be part of the Tree Action Plan Delivery Team (TAP‑D), a national network focused on maximising the benefits of woodland creation for carbon sequestration, nature recovery, and public engagement.
This role is critical to the delivery and support of woodland creation schemes and our work with Forestry Commission and wider woodland partners.
Flexible working options are supported, and regular travel within Cheshire to Lancashire is required for site visits and meetings.
The role also includes participation in National TAP‑D meetings.
Key Tasks / Principal Accountabilities
This role will lead the TAP‑D work across Cheshire to Lancashire.
* Provide expert advice on woodland, wood pasture, agroforestry, and scrub, ensuring sensitive environmental areas are protected.
You will also have or develop expertise in the England Woodland Creation offer.
* Strengthen collaboration with the Forestry Commission colleagues for a joined‑up approach to tree establishment.
The role will engage with other key forestry and woodland partners such as the Forestry England, the two Community Forests within the Area Team patch (the Mersey Forest and City of Trees), Woodland Trust, National Trust, Rivers Trusts and individual land managers.
Support tree establishment for nature recovery, climate resilience, flood mitigation, water quality, and public benefits through the new Local Nature Recovery Strategies.
Provide technical advice on complex casework relating to tree establishment, including assessments of impacts on protected sites, priority habitats and species, waders and sensitive ecosystems such as peatland.
Contribute to strategic decision‑making by supporting the Area Leadership Team and facilitate knowledge‑sharing through meetings, networking, and best practice promotion.
Knowledge, Skills & Experience
* Essential: Strong ecological understanding and experience in identifying priority habitats.
Technical understanding of landscape‑scale nature recovery, specifically the benefits and risks of new woodland establishment in relation to nature recovery: key priority habitats, priority species, ecosystem services and climate change.
* Essential: Strong collaboration skills and ability to build relationships across organisations.
Understand and be able to engage with stakeholders and partners from a wide variety of organisations to provide effective leadership to collaborative working.
* Essential: Ability to communicate clearly and effectively using appropriate language, tone, and techniques.
Demonstrate strong speaking, listening, writing, and presentation skills to engage diverse audiences.
* Essential: The role will require travel to sites and meetings with partners.
A driving licence is essential for the role.
* Desirable: Knowledge of Countryside Stewardship and Woodland Creation grants, woodland management and ecology, relevant policy frameworks, Integrated Biodiversity Advice, use of GIS/mapping tools, and environmental regulations.
This role will require frequent travel within the Cheshire, Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside so potential candidates are required to be within patch, or within very close proximity.
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