Assistant District Licence Officer (Great Crested Newts) - South England

Salary: £27,450 pa + company benefits
Duration: Full time (32hrs/wk, Monday to Thursday plus 4 company days per year on Fridays)
Location: Home-based in the South of England, in or near one of the following counties: East Sussex, Oxfordshire, Surrey, Gloucestershire.
Closing date for applications: 5pm on Sunday 12th April 2026
We aim to notify you by Thursday 16th April 2026 if you have been selected for interview. Interviews are likely to be held during the weeks commencing 20th or 27th April 2026.
Expected start date: 1st July 2026

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 the UK’s leading freshwater and amphibian non-governmental organisations as well as seven local planning authorities across the South Midlands. Since then, the scheme has expanded nationally and now covers 70 local planning authorities across Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Staffordshire, Surrey and West Sussex.

The scheme allows planning authorities to authorise (under strictly defined terms) activities which 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 a fully funded region-wide conservation strategy that creates high-quality habitat at a landscape scale and delivers long-term management and monitoring for newts, which is carried out via our partners at the Newt Conservation Partnership (a community benefit society formed of experts from Freshwater Habitats Trust and Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust). The scheme benefits developers because the licensing process for great crested newts is simplified and streamlined.

We also work with national infrastructure providers, such as Network Rail and National Highways, 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.

2026 is an exciting year for us, as we advance new schemes that build upon our successes; this will include officially launching our uniquely stacked high-integrity BNG offer and piloting our Priority Species Scheme, as well as developing new licensing schemes for other protected species.

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 a Senior District Licensing Officer and will support the team 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 is able to carry out a variety of tasks to support the team with a growing workload.

Key responsibilities:

• Providing support and assistance to the District Licensing Officers and Senior District Licensing Officers, 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 working in partnership to ensure the smooth running of the process from pre-application comments, planning consultation responses and 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, developers, ecological consultants or others involved in the planning and development process, including 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, or a comparable level of professional experience
• Good level of understanding of environmental assessment, biodiversity conservation, protected species and licensing
• Good level of understanding of the role that LPAs 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
• Good level of experience in data management and quality assurance processes

Company culture, employment benefits and location

NatureSpace Partnership is a small-medium (c.70 staff) but busy and rapidly growing company. Being a small(ish) 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 the region described above - 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 following counties covered by the District Licensing Scheme: East Sussex, Oxfordshire, Surrey or Gloucestershire.

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.