Land Agent x 2

Team: NNR Team, National Operations

Location: Locations – South West and South East

Salary: Starting salary £32,438*

Contact details: Michael Woodhouse 07833 500908

Michael.woodhouse@naturalengland.org.uk.

Closing date: 14th July 2022

This position is based at Ashford, Bristol Temple Quay, Reading, Truro, Wallingford, Bridgwater, NE Eastleigh, SO50 9YN, Sterling House, EX1 1QA32,438

About Natural England:

Do you have a passion for nature and the environment? Do you want to make a real difference and secure significant environmental gains in the present and the future? Do you enjoy working in a team? Can you see yourself advising communities and customers to maximise gains for the Natural Environment?

If this appeals to you, a career at Natural England offers rewarding opportunities to secure environmental improvements and play your part in creating a better future for people and nature.

The priority work Natural England is delivering includes:

• Establishing a Nature Recovery Network to help wildlife thrive
• Monitoring environmental changes to identify and help reduce the effects of climate change
• Working with farmers and landowners to develop greener food production methods
• Advising on plans for new developments to maximise gains for nature
• Providing ways for people to better connect with nature, including green social prescribing

We are the Government’s advisor for the natural environment, playing a vital role in delivering the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan, an ambitious vision which brings new opportunities to protect and enhance and to achieve real outcomes for the environment.

See more about the work of Natural England at:

www.gov.uk/government/organisations/natural-england

Natural England staff are inclusive, motivated and ambitious to achieve results for our environment, for everyone. We welcome and encourage applications from all communities and we operate a guaranteed interview scheme for disabled applicants who meet the minimum requirements for the role.

Wherever possible we will accommodate requests for both full-time and part-time hours and other flexible working patterns to help employees achieve a good work/life balance and maintain their health and wellbeing.
From induction to ongoing learning and development, everyone in Natural England is supported to develop their skills and capabilities. Where appropriate there will be offers of training under our apprenticeship schemes.

Natural England is adopting hybrid working – which means that our staff will work from a flexible range of locations, encompassing home, offices (ours and our partners) and relevant sites. By default, all new staff will be formally linked to one of our 25 offices across England and the expectation is that all new staff will be able to access their local office to be part of the community of staff in their geographic area.

These roles will be linked with NE offices in the South East and South West.

The successful candidate is required to carry out all their duties working in this way and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time.

View a map of our office locations here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/natural-england-office-locations

How to apply

We will assess you against the competencies below during the selection process. When completing the application form you should present relevant examples using the STAR format. STAR stands for:

• Situation
• Task
• Action
• Result

A maximum of 250 words is allowed for your response to each competency. The Candidate Information Pack has lots of useful information – read it before you begin completing the application form. Please note STAR format is not required for the ‘Technical Skills and Knowledge’ competency.

The Role

Natural England requires two Chartered Surveyor roles leading traditional land agency into the world of natural capital and ecosystem services.

This is an opportunity to work for the Estate Management arm of Natural England who hold a mixed leasehold and freehold estate of some 64,000ha of land, workshops, offices, and other buildings. The Estate comprises 143 National Nature Reserves (NNR’s) covering some of the most important and iconic wildlife sites in England.

Chartered Surveyors are essential to the Estate fulfilling its conservation and income potential whilst meeting the organisations legal obligations and providing value for money.
You will be joining a national team of Surveyors/Land Agents working across the country and be part of a wider team of conservation professionals. Each role covers a particular geographic patch with these roles covering the South West and South East.

These roles offer the following benefits:

• Free from fee target pressure
• Flexible working opportunities
• Roles at the forefront of the Natural Capital sector
• two roles available with potential for one of these to be pre-qualified
• Post qualified starting salary of £32,438. * Whilst it is NE’s policy to appoint at salary minimum a higher starting salary within the pay range may be considered for exceptional candidates

Key areas of work include:

• Professional advice on estate casework matters including the provision of advice on legal and valuation matters or engagement of internal and external advisers on such matters.
• Income generation - explore traditional estate assets and potential new assets and drive forward opportunities from emerging environmental markets such as Biodiversity Net Gain.
• Estate Management - manage all tenure casework for a particular geographic area.
• Acquisitions and declarations - advise the relevant geographic team on NNR acquisitions and National Nature Reserve designation
• Direct Payments (Basic Payment Scheme) – during the Agricultural Transition assist in preparing the Estates Direct Payments claim and abiding by the Scheme’s regulations.
• NNR records - updating and maintaining of property records and mapping.
• Finance - work with support staff to deliver accurate payments and receipts from the Estate tenure and assist with procurement for valuation and other contracts.
• Contribute to reviews and updates of upcoming Government policy and Estate Management procedures.
• Professional advice - the post holder will provide formal and informal advice to others on casework matters related to the management of the Natural England estate. This will involve working with our Area Teams, NNR staff and the National NNR team.

Key Competencie

Technical Skills and Knowledge

• You will be a qualified member of The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and will be required to keep professional membership up to date (Essential).
• Professional membership of the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers (Desirable).
• Knowledge and experience of property management, preferably rural, including legal and valuation matters and working with a range of landowners, occupiers and farmers (Desirable).
• Experience in all aspects of Rural Estate Management of a wide and varied portfolio (Essential).

Personal Effectiveness

• Use clear and appropriate language, communication styles and techniques that engage your audience (practitioner)
• Make and explain objective decisions which combine your professional judgement and evidence (expert)
• Progress your personal development and take responsibility for keeping your knowledge and expertise current (practitioner)

Work delivery

• Manage and deliver your work to meet agreed targets and deadlines (expert)
• Consider the financial implications of your work and seek income from our products and services (practitioner)

Putting people at the heart of the environment

• Nurture trusting partnerships and collaborate to achieve pragmatic outcomes that help deliver the vision, mission and aims of the organisation you represent (practitioner)
• Listen to and understand our diverse partners and customers so that you achieve the best outcomes for them and the organisation you represent (practitioner)

Competencies

Competence 1 - Professional competency

Detail

Technical Skills and Knowledge

Description

• You will be a qualified member of The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and will be required to keep professional membership up to date (Essential).
• Professional membership of the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers (Desirable).
• Knowledge and experience of property management, preferably rural, including legal and valuation matters and working with a range of landowners, occupiers and farmers (Desirable).
• Experience in all aspects of Rural Estate Management of a wide and varied portfolio (Essential).
o Lease negotiations, rent reviews, lease management, tenant relations.
o Valuations – freehold and leasehold.
o Rent and debt management
o Estate utilisation and rationalisation
o Property Transactions – purchases, leases, easements, wayleaves
o Stakeholder Engagement
o Estate Terrier Management

Competence 2 - Professional competency

Detail

Personal Effectiveness

Description

• Use clear and appropriate language, communication styles and techniques that engage your audience (practitioner)
• Make and explain objective decisions which combine your professional judgement and evidence (expert)
• Progress your personal development and take responsibility for keeping your knowledge and expertise current (practitioner)

Competence 3 - Professional competency

Detail

Work delivery

Description

• Manage and deliver your work to meet agreed targets and deadlines (expert)
• Consider the financial implications of your work and seek income from our products and services (practitioner)

Competence 4 - Professional competency

Detail

Putting people at the heart of the environment

Description

• Nurture trusting partnerships and collaborate to achieve pragmatic outcomes that help deliver the vision, mission and aims of the organisation you represent (practitioner)

• Listen to and understand our diverse partners and customers so that you achieve the best outcomes for them and the organisation you represent (practitioner)

Responsibilities

Please refer to the Job Description

Qualifications

Fully qualified RICS Chartered Surveyor

Memberships

Fully qualified RICS Chartered Surveyor

Benefits

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension

Things you need to know Security

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check.

People working with government assets must complete basic personnel security standard checks.

Medical

Successful candidates will be expected to have a medical.

Selection process details

Please refer to the Job Description

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
• relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
• certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals

Further information on nationality requirements

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Apply and further information

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants Job contact :

• Name :Michael Woodhouse
• Email :Michael.woodhouse@naturalengland.org.uk
• Telephone :07833 500908