Assistant District Licensing Officer, South England

• Salary: £26,550 pa + company benefits
• Duration: Full time (32hrs/wk, Monday to Thursday)
• Location: Home-based in the South of England, in or near one of the following counties: East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire, Oxfordshire
• Closing date for applications: 5pm, Sunday 7th September 2025

We aim to notify you by Thursday 11th September 2025 if you have been selected for interview. Interviews are likely to be held during the weeks commencing 15th or 22nd September 2025.

Please note that we may close applications early if we receive a high volume of interest, so early applications are encouraged.

Expected start date: November 2025 (or earlier if possible)

Company Background

Great crested newts have declined dramatically in the UK over the last 50 years and although still widespread across lowland England they are no longer common. Despite protection under UK and European wildlife law, numbers are still declining, and habitat loss is their biggest threat.

In 2018 the NatureSpace District Licensing Scheme was launched – set up in partnership with national freshwater and amphibian Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) as well as seven planning authorities across the South Midlands. Since then, the Scheme has expanded nationally and now covers over 60 planning authorities across Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Milton Keynes, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Staffordshire, Surrey and West Sussex.

The Scheme allows planning authorities to authorise (under strictly defined terms) activities that affect great crested newts at the same time as they grant planning permission. The District Licensing Scheme has significant advantages for newt conservation and wider biodiversity benefits through fully funded region-wide conservation strategies that create high-quality habitat at a landscape scale and deliver long-term management and monitoring for newts, which are delivered via our partners at the Newt Conservation Partnership. The scheme benefits developers because the licensing process for great crested newts is simplified and streamlined.

NatureSpace also works with national infrastructure providers, such as Network Rail, to help them secure and deliver 'Organisational Licences' for protected species with the same conservation deliverables. The schemes are administered by NatureSpace, are regulated and approved by Natural England, and are supported by the country’s leading amphibian and freshwater NGOs – Amphibian and Reptile Conservation and Freshwater Habitats Trust.

The NatureSpace Operations Team

The Operations Team currently consists of 12 county-based District Licensing Officers, who are employed to support planning authorities in the areas covered by the District Licensing Scheme (as listed above); and a national support team. The team are responsible for providing impartial comments on planning applications, delivering training to the planning authorities and helping them with the relevant licensing paperwork, monitoring compliance and collating information for reporting annually to Natural England. The team is led by the Operations Manager.

The Role

The Assistant District Licensing Officer will be line-managed by the Senior District Licensing Officer for the South of England and will support the team across the Southern Region with a busy case load. Training will be provided.

We’re looking for someone with knowledge of great crested newt ecology, wildlife legislation and the planning system, who is well-organised, a good communicator and able to carry out a variety of tasks to support the South region with a growing workload.

Key responsibilities:

• Providing support and assistance to the District Licensing Officers and Senior District Licensing Officer in the South of England (East and West Sussex, Hampshire and Isle of White, and Oxfordshire), which will involve assessing and commenting on planning applications, assisting with project management, compliance checking tasks and responding to queries from planners, ecologists and developers.
• Supporting partner Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) with the implementation of their great crested newt (GCN) District Licence and work in partnership to ensure the smooth running of the process from pre-application comments, planning consultation responses, determining planning applications (using the correct planning conditions), to authorising developers and monitoring compliance.
• Raising awareness of the District Licensing Scheme and the great crested newt conservation strategy to all relevant LPA staff, councillors, cabinet members and contractors (where appropriate).
• Undertaking site visits and meetings as required, to provide advice and guidance on licensing requirements to the LPA, developer, ecological consultant or others involved in the planning and development processes, including for the investigation of suspected breaches of the licence and/or planning conditions.
• Helping with the preparation, review and delivery of training to planning authorities, including organising training sessions and helping to design presentations.
• Helping to ensure that important records are kept up-to-date and assisting with the Quality Assurance process to maintain high-quality data.
• Helping to manage contact information.

Essential skills, knowledge, and experience:

• Degree in ecology, environmental management, wildlife conservation, planning, geography or another relevant subject
• Good level of understanding of environmental assessment, biodiversity conservation, protected species and licensing
• Good level of understanding of the role that local planning authorities play in making decisions about new developments in England
• Good IT skills and competent in using Microsoft 365 package, including Word, Excel, Teams, Outlook and PowerPoint
• Effective communicator with good inter-personal skills, able to liaise proactively and confidently with a range of people
• Organised, self-motivated and ability to work independently with day-to-day supervision
• Able to cope with remote working with limited opportunities for in-person meetings and events throughout the year (e.g. company days)
• Good time management and ability to prioritise work tasks
• UK driving licence

Desirable skills, knowledge, and experience:

• An enthusiasm for wildlife, ecology and conservation in the UK
• Good project management skills and/or experience in supporting a project team
• An understanding of Miro Boards
• Good level of experience in data management and Quality Assurance processes

Company culture, employment benefits and location

NatureSpace Partnership is a small (c.60 staff) but busy and rapidly growing company. Being a small organisation, everyone has a big say in what we do and how we do it. Our agility and size mean that your voice will be heard, and you will have the opportunity to directly see the results of your work.

Work/life balance is important to us. We actively support flexible working arrangement so that our work fits in with our lives and we are open to exploring how this role could best work for you.

The successful candidate will be joining a friendly, close-working team of home-workers and will have responsibility for managing their workload and working independently as part of a dispersed national team. The post requires high levels of motivation and high standards of self-management. Location is flexible within England - this post will be mainly desk-based but some travelling to meetings may be required. You would ideally be located within an hour’s drive from one of the counties that is covered by the District Licensing Scheme (as listed above).

NatureSpace embraces equal opportunities, diversity and inclusion and we welcome applications from all suitably qualified and experienced individuals. To build a team of the most talented employees, NatureSpace is committed to being a flexible employer and we place considerable emphasis on wellbeing and job satisfaction.

We offer a significant benefits package for all staff including flexible working with a 4-day working week, time off-in-lieu (TOIL) or overtime pay (in agreement with your line manager), 20 annual leave days (which equates to 5-weeks off per year in light of the 4-day working week, plus bank holidays, weekday birthdays and additional holiday over the Christmas period), an annual performance bonus of up to 20% of your pay, company pension contributions, company private health and life insurance, plus the option to join our electric vehicle salary sacrifice scheme. Applicants must have the legal right to live and work in the UK.