Communications Officer
Thames Basin Heaths Partnership (SAMM Team) - Natural England
Location: You must be able to travel to the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area (TBH SPA) and our office in Woking regularly. The role requires occasional weekend/early morning and evening work. The TBH SPA and partners fall within parts of Berkshire, Hampshire and Surrey.
Hours per week: 22.2
You will be working as a Communications Officer within the Thames Basin Heaths Partnership (TBHP) project. The team provides an on-the-ground wardening service on the TBH SPA. Working closely with landowners and managers and other partners (including local authorities, Ministry of Defence etc), the team engages directly with the public to raise awareness amongst visitors of the sensitivity of this internationally important heathland landscape.
The TBHP project, hosted by Natural England, is fully funded from a tariff paid by residential developers, and is overseen by the TBH Joint Strategic Partnership Board (JSPB), a body comprising 11 local authorities, and Hampshire and Surrey County Councils. Working in partnership with Natural England, the TBH local authorities, SPA landowners and managers and other stakeholders, you will support the management of the project to achieve its objective of helping to protect the SPA from recreational pressures arising from new housing development.
Key Tasks & Principal Accountabilities
- Work as part of the TBHP to develop and deliver an effective communications strategy
- Plan and deliver a seasonal programme of consistent messaging, including ground-nesting bird messaging and wildfire messaging
- Champion our communication strategy and consistent messaging across the team
- Promote events, including flagship Heath Week events, via website, social media and local publications
- Use creativity and artistic flare to produce and maintain social media and website content
- Take responsibility for branding, leaflets, signage, partnership newsletter and external enquiries
- Raise awareness of the fragility of heathland and motivate local people and visitors to respect it
- Encourage responsible dog walking and discourage negative recreational activities where they impact on the SPA (e.g. irresponsible use of BBQs or motorcycling)
- Promote the use of Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspaces (SANGs) sites as alternative destinations for SPA visitors
- Be willing to learn new ways of working and new technologies.
A current, full driving licence is essential.
The role will be a combination of computer work and working on the SPA in a variety of
weathers. The work will involve regular liaison with the TBHP wardening team and partners and
may include some lone working.
About Natural England
We’re the government’s adviser for the natural environment in England. We help to protect and restore our natural world.
Natural England is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs.
We were established by an Act of Parliament in 2006. Our purpose is to help conserve, enhance and manage the natural environment for the benefit of present and future generations, thereby contributing to sustainable development.
We’re the government’s adviser for the natural environment in England. We help to protect and restore our natural world. Natural England is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. We were established by an Act of Parliament in 2006. Our purpose is to help conserve, enhance and manage the natural environment for the benefit of present and future generations, thereby contributing to sustainable development.
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