The Ecology team is committed to protecting and restoring Wiltshire’s unique natural environment and supporting well-placed and well-designed growth that meets the needs of people, nature, and climate.

We are a growing team helping to deliver nature recovery, improving access to the countryside for communities, and protecting and enhancing our most important wildlife places.

The Service area covers a number of key strategic functions including:

• Environmental and Ecology Planning Strategy and Policy Development

• Advising on the implications of new development

• Delivery of wildlife creation projects for environment offsetting such as creating a chalk grassland nature reserve, Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace, wetlands, woodland, and hedgerow planting

• Partnership working to deliver nature recovery and environmental improvements in Wiltshire.

Each of those areas is subject to significant external and internal pressures all of which have the potential to generate strongly held views and opinions.

We are creating Roundbarrow Nature Reserve. The project is to restore a 120 ha of intensively farmed land to a chalk grassland nature reserve.

Here is a farm project that we have restoring land from intensive agriculture to chalk grassland.

Urban design officers in Wiltshire play a strategic advisory role in the consideration of development proposals, assessing planning applications against established principles of good design which are enshrined in both national and local planning policy and guidance.

The timely focused, and sustained input of the skills of the urban design officers make a crucial contribution to raising the design quality of development proposals and promoting high design standards for development throughout the county.

In carrying out their remit, urban design officers use a range of visual communication tools and skills to illustrate ideas, helping to ensure clear communication and mutual understanding between different stakeholders.

More specifically, the urban design officers within Wiltshire provide specialist design advice as an internal consultees to:

• The Development Management Service, evaluating planning applications for compliance with the Local Plan Core Policy 57 ’Ensuring high-quality design and place shaping’ whilst also recognizing the policies of related disciplines and Neighbourhood Plans, and national and local design guidance. Through the planning case officers, they liaise with developers, agents, planners and designers, and other Services and stakeholders involved in an application;

• The Spatial Planning Service, on Local Plan making, including input into the formulation of policies and supplementary planning documents. They provide early advice on development concepts and produce CAD masterplans for strategically significant proposals such as urban extensions and housing site allocations. They also provide advice on the preparation and review of Neighbourhood Plans;

• Other internal departments and disciplines within Wiltshire Council including the Major Projects and Housing Services, on Council-led development initiatives and projects which may include local communities. This can include providing technical services such as drawing constraint plans, design concepts, and feasibility layouts.

Urban design officers may also represent Wiltshire Council as an Expert Witness on design matters in planning appeals and public inquiries or through participation in public and private meetings, design panels and forums, committees, and workshops.

Because of the multi-disciplinary, problem-solving nature of urban design, officers have developed and maintained positive relationships and informal lines of communication with colleagues across many Service areas such as Transport, Highways, Public Health, Regeneration, Ecology, and especially Landscape.

In providing the above services, urban design officers in Wiltshire bring to the role their personal experience as professional designers, ensuring that advice is pragmatic and constructive. Officers maintain familiarization with key aspects of evolving sustainability and construction technologies, government initiatives, national policy and guidance, and best practices in urban design and may facilitate the expertise, support, and services of external organizations such as acknowledged national Design Review and place-making bodies.

“Urban design is the design of cities, towns and villages, streets and spaces. It is the collaborative and multi-disciplinary process of shaping the physical setting for life – the art of making places. Urban design involves the design of buildings, groups of buildings, spaces and landscapes, and establishing frameworks and procedures that will deliver successful development by different people over time.”

In one of the most archaeologically rich counties on the country, Wiltshire’s Archaeology Service works to identify, record and protect Wiltshire´s historic environment by advising the Council’s planners and negotiating with landowners and developers.

Wiltshire is outstanding for its archaeological remains which include well known monuments such as those in the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site. Each year brings a crop of new discoveries, but also challenges as we seek to enable development whilst preserving the remains of the past.

There are a wide range of heritage expertise within the Archaeology Team, including historic buildings, world heritage, historic environment records and field archaeology.

We focus on getting the things that matter to our people right!

Council Benefits

• Flexible working - We positively encourage flexibility - wherever possible giving you the option to work in a way that works best for you.

• Holidays – you’ll receive 25 days' annual leave, rising to 30 after 5 years and then 32 after 40 years service, plus public and bank holidays

• Ability to purchase up to 20 extra days of annual leave

• Local government pension scheme

• Truly flexible working, roles are hybrid between home and the workplace where applicable

• Wiltshire Rewards

• Subsidised rail – we can offer you a 25% discount on rail season tickets

• Local discounts with retailers and service providers

• Discounted leisure membership

• Occupational health – offers a variety of employee wellbeing services to support a healthy work/life balance and lifestyle, including health screening and smoking cessation sessions

• Family friendly policies

• Development - Our HR / OD team has built an impressive suite of learning and training activities that provide a rounded and learner-centred experience. 

• Car pool – if you need a car for a business trip you can book a car. Our fleet includes fully electric vehicles and ultra-low emissions cars and electric charging points 

If you would like to find out more then please tab here!