Rural Active Travel and Engagement Officer

About the job

Key information

• This role provides the opportunity for hybrid working, allowing you to work either from home, subject to managerial approval, or from one of our offices.
• This role involves frequent travel across rural areas of Somerset and lone working on occasions.
• 30 days’ annual leave (in addition to bank holidays).
• The contract offered is on a 2-year fixed term basis and full-time (37 hours per week).

What will I be doing?

We’re working to improve the lives of people in Somerset – and you’ll be a key part of that.

As a Rural Active Travel & Engagement Officer, you will play a pivotal role in promoting and enhancing active travel within rural areas of Somerset. This role involves the development, completion and roll out of the Rural Active Travel Toolkit and mapping tool – delivering innovative projects that support parish councils and community groups, aiming to increase active travel participation.

Your day-to-day work will involve:

• Progress with the development, completion and roll out of the Rural Active Travel Toolkit.
• Working with local community networks to increase active travel in rural areas.
• Developing and supporting community-led projects such as the Strawberry Line and Steam Coast Trail.
• Identifying new funding streams, especially ones that are not already funded by transport departments.
• Working with the Public Health team to encourage and enable access to the countryside.
• Working with communications and Visit Somerset to highlight Somerset as a sustainable tourism destination.

We recognise the importance of a good balance between work and home life, so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working, including working from home, with agreement from the manager.

What kind of experience or qualifications do I need?

We offer ongoing support, training and guidance to help you be the best you can be. But it will really help if you have:

• A degree in a relevant field such as Transport Planning, Environmental Science, or Community Development, or relevant equivalent qualifications/ professional experience.
• Excellent communication and project management skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively with diverse teams and stakeholders.
• A proven track record of working with community groups and local councils.
• An understanding of active travel principles and practices with knowledge of rural community dynamics and challenges.

We’re proud to be here for the people of Somerset. And that means everyone in Somerset. An important part of this is ensuring that we are as diverse and inclusive as the people and communities we serve.

We welcome applications from a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences to enrich our team. You can always contact the hiring manager for a chat if there’s anything you want to talk about before you apply.

What is in it for me?

We are proud to offer an environment that is supportive and rewarding, working as part of a team who are passionate about the work they do to improve the lives of people in Somerset.

We offer great training and development opportunities, with supportive management. As well as this, we have some fantastic employee benefits available:

• We promote a healthy work-life balance and offer flexible working arrangements wherever possible, including working from home.
• Generous annual leave allowance, with the opportunity to purchase additional leave
• Staff discounts in gyms.
• Employee Assistance for the times you may need some support and a variety of employee wellbeing services.
• Auto enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme and optional pension enhancement through our Additional Voluntary Contribution scheme.
• A Flexible Benefits Scheme via salary sacrifice to obtain a cycle for work and health screenings.
• My Staff Shop offering discounts in shops, online shopping, restaurants, cinema tickets, insurance benefits and more

Supporting documents and information

For an informal chat about the role, you can contact Natasha Bates, Service Manager Transport Planning at natasha.bates@somerset.gov.uk

The Salary for the role is Grade 11, ranging from £32,597 to £36,363 per annum.

If you have everything you need, just hit the apply button. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Apply on the Somerset Council website

Apply now