Forest Planner in Exeter

We are Forestry England. We live and breathe forests. Join us. We're foresters, professionals and experts. We are a passionate team who love to share our enthusiasm and want to make a positive difference for you and the environment. Together, we’re using our scale and expertise to grow the nation’s forests for everyone. We’re already adapting our landscapes for tomorrow, and getting stuff done today, like creating amazing places and experiences for you to enjoy. We're providing vital homes for wildlife, making our air cleaner to breathe and producing sustainable timber.

Our Forest Planners are responsible for researching, writing, reviewing and consulting on the Forest Plans. The Forest Plans must be compliant with the UK Woodland Assurance Scheme, and champion forest resilience in light of our changing climate. Increasingly plans need to recognise the context of the wood in the wider landscape, notably in terms of resilience and nature’s recovery at the landscape scale. The Forest Planners will take new plans through stakeholder consultation as well as monitor progress with plan delivery through 5 & 10 year reviews.

Forest Planners also interrogate and manage Forestry England’s Geographic Information System to support plan writing and preparation of maps, and need to be open to technological advances in remote sensing and similar fields so that forest planning can be undertaken efficiently and effectively using new technology. One post holder (we have two Forest Planner vacancies) will act as the district’s lead drone pilot, liaising with the approved pilots in our team, as well as national colleagues to proactively implement policy and practice requirements of the organisation.

West Forest District is responsible for the sustainable management of over 37,000ha of the nation’s forests and woodlands in the west and south-west of England. The district team extends to some 170 employees, with frontline delivery through our 17 remotely located delivery teams (5 forest centre and 12 forest beats) which are supported by our network of highly valued volunteers and contractors. Each of the posts will focus on a specific area of the District. One postholder (north) will be based at our forest office at Bank House, Coleford, Gloucestershire, the other (south) will be based at our forest office at Haldon Forest Park, Kennford, nr Exeter, Devon (other Forestry England office locations within the district may be considered).

Hours of work: The position is a full-time post to work 37 hours per week. Normal working hours are Monday to Thursday 8.30am to 5pm with an hour lunch break; and Friday 8.30am – 4.30pm with an hour lunch break. This can be worked flexibly by agreement. If the successful applicant is new to Forestry England then they will need to be embedded within a Forestry England office for a significant proportion of the working week during an induction period.

Travel: The postholder will be expected to travel to different office and depot locations as well as remotely located woods & forests to support the remotely located delivery teams as may be required; and to attend national meetings and training events. This will most likely require travel by car, and thus a current driving licence is seen as a requirement of the role although candidates may put forward a proposal that satisfies the business need to travel without recourse to driving. The postholder will be part of the Forest Planning team led by the Operations Manager – Planning.

Alongside your salary, Forestry England contributes an average of 28.97% towards your pension. You will become a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension Scheme. 25 days holiday a year, rising by one day for every year’s service, up to 30 days (pro-rated for part time employees) plus additional days off such as bank holidays. STaR is our employee benefits scheme offering discounts on everyday supermarket shopping, as well as other things such as hotel stays, clothes, mobile phones, other electrical items, medical and car insurance, holidays, gym discounts, household bills, Headspace wellbeing app. Free parking at Forestry England sites and free entry to our National Arboretums at Westonbirt and Bedgebury. A commitment to lifelong learning through career development. Forestry England will support your career development in a variety of ways, including continual professional development, support for individual learning plans and sponsored membership of professional bodies.

You will be asked to write a 200 word statement on your relevant experience and career history, along with a personal statement of no more than 500 words. You will be assessed on both during sifting. More details about how to apply are listed on the application form. You will be assessed on experience and behaviours during your interview. The Behaviours being assessed at interview are – Seeing the Big Picture, Changing and Improving, Making effective decisions, Communicating and Influencing. Successful candidates will undergo a criminal record check and the government baseline personnel security standard check.

If you require any reasonable adjustments, please email fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk. If you're planning to use AI to support your application, please ensure you've read our guidelines first. Read more about our application process and working with us on the Forestry England website.

Forestry England is part of the Civil Service. The Civil Service has a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS). This means candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria during the application process will be guaranteed an interview. We also offer a Redeployment Interview Scheme to current civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the role. This role is also part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans and Prison Leaver Recruitment initiative. Within Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016, it is essential that applicants should have the ability to provide conversation in accurate spoken English. Our recruitment process makes appointments based on fair and open competition and merit, as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles.