Job Description
The site
Forestry England is a Non-Ministerial Government Department which is responsible for the management and care of the Public Forest Estate. Forestry England is divided up into six areas or “districts”.
The Central Forest District has responsibility for the management of some 30,000ha of the Public Forest Estate within a triangle formed by Liverpool, Hull and Milton Keynes. This gives rise to a large diversity of users, customers, neighbours and pressures, all of which are interacting on a diverse backdrop of land uses.
The post is located at Salcey Forest Centre, located within the county of Northamptonshire, located between the towns of Milton Keynes, Bedford and Northampton. The site sees 300,000 visitors per year wishing to undertake numerous outdoor activities. The site visitor facilities include a car park, toilets, café, play area, learning, waymarked walking, horse riding and cycling trails and several long distance Public Rights of Way that cut through the forest.
The Active Forests Programme aims to create a sporting habit for life for visitors to the public forest estate in England. The programme provides engaging, inspirational and motivating physical activity opportunities for new and existing forest visitors. The key aspects of the programme are delivered through: 1) partnership and engagement, 2) communication, 3) monitoring and evaluation.

PURPOSE OF THE JOB
To coordinate and deliver a wide range of sports and physical activity experiences at Salcey Forest.
Key Work Areas
1. Taking the lead from the Active Forests (AF) delivery strategy and the site delivery plan, develop & deliver:
• A programme of customer focused sporting experiences.
• Site marketing & communication activity.
• Site monitoring and evaluation programme.
2. Tap into local experience & knowledge base by working with existing site teams.
3. Ensure AFC post is fully integrated into the local site team by incorporation into the duty system offering frontline visitor support and reactive response to incidents as required.
4. Develop a range of internal and external partnerships to develop programme and provide sports activities.
5. Where appropriate, develop and directly deliver sports activities.
6. In line with national & local guidance develop, introduce and coordinate a team of Active Forests volunteers to support AF delivery where appropriate.
7. Taking the lead from AF programme manager lead production of performance reports.
8. Representing site interests participate in AF programme networking opportunities.
9. Where specified lead development of specific AF programme activities EG Data capture techniques, use of social media, development of volunteer package.
10. Support forest centre related management activities to help meet site business objectives e.g. permission systems, health and safety, visitor information and income generation
This post is remunerated at a non-operational pay band and as such is required to work 37 hours per week excluding lunch breaks. The duties of the post require a flexible 7 day working week to allow for rostering on weekends, public and privilege holidays and evenings (with the exception of Christmas Day). In addition to core Active Forests working areas the post requires you to support the recreation team to deliver visitor services at a busy forest centre.

Person specification
Essential
Previous experience of developing relationships and working effectively with internal and external partners.
A track record of delivering successful customer focused activities in a recreational environment.

Desirable
Your physical activity or events based experience will include marketing and /or promotion, with the management of health & safety and delivery of monitoring and evaluation activity.
Knowledge and experience of working with Sport England, National Governing Bodies and Forestry England.

PROFESSIONAL AND TECHNICAL EXPERTISE
Essential
A wide interest and knowledge of sports activities and experience of using sport as a tool to engage with customers.
A working knowledge of Microsoft windows based IT systems.

Desirable
A degree, NVQ Level 4, HND or relevant post-graduate qualification in a recreational or sporting subject or significant relevant experience in this area of work.
Understanding of the sports sector and its organisation/delivery at both national and local levels.
Licences
Full UK Driving licence.
The duties of this post require use of vehicle to travel between sites, therefore applicants need to have a full driving licence that enables them to drive in the UK.
However, the Forestry Commission is willing to consider any proposals put forward by applicants that would allow them to do the job by other means.

How to apply
Applications through the online portal only – www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk
For further information about the role please contact Joe Smith – Joe.smith@forestryengland.uk