Community Highways Officer
37 hours per week - Permanent
£29,777 - £33,945
Ferndown Depot
What's in it for you:
The community highways team are the first point of contact, for all stakeholders including, members of the Public, Parish/Town Councils and Elected Members, when reporting defects or other highway-related issues.
The team carry out regular highway inspections recording safety defects and identifying maintenance issues to fulfil our duty under the Highways Act 1980 and maintain our Section 58 defence relating to highway claims against the council.
Engaging with residents and landowners on enforcement issues which impact the highway and public safety, such as overhanging vegetation, clearing obstructions, etc.
Each area team have small capital budgets to help resolve some local issues, such as minor traffic management, small drainage repairs and installing pedestrian dropped crossing points in liaison with local disabled groups.
Several services require a licence to carry out activities on the highway, such as sitting out, skips and scaffolding. These licence applications are assessed and approved by the community highways team.
What you can expect to be doing:
Providing technical advice and support to both colleagues and to our customers
Ensuring that the highway is safe and available for the enjoyment of our customers
Attending meetings with local councillors and residents on highway related issues
Ensuring that we fulfil our duties under the 1980 highways act
Carrying out inspections on the public highway ensuring deadlines are met
Representing the council in court as and when required
Assessing and granting some highway licensing in a manner that reduces the effect on the highway network
Liaising with Town and Parish Councils on highway matters
You will be responsible for a vehicle, a laptop, hand held communication device. mobile phone and associated equipment and other specialised technical equipment as and when required
Representing the council in highway matters yet at the same time ensuring that the customers view points and concerns are understood by other stakeholders.
Working as part of a team, offering advice, guidance, and providing detailed assessments to colleagues when dealing with more complex issues
Undertaking some public consultation and liaising with local communities
Any other duties as required commensurate to the grading of this post.
About you
Are you able to work within a team environment with ability to advise others?
Do you have confident manner and good interpersonal skills?
Are you adaptable to change?
Do you have excellent customer service skills?
Are you able to follow procedures and evaluate problems?
Do you have good communication skills, both written and oral?
Are you good with your own time management with ability to meet deadlines?
Do you have experience in use of IT?
Dorset Council: A great place to work
We’re passionate about making Dorset a great place to live, work and visit. Working for us should be no exception.
At Dorset Council we:
1. provide more than 450 services to over 300,000 residents
2. have ambitious aspirations
3. are excited about our future
4. care about Dorset and all the people who live here
5. know that all roles make a difference and that our employees are key to our success
You will:
6. have access to
7. be part of an organisation that supports each other to grow and succeed
8. have access to range of training opportunities which will help with your personal development and career progression
We are challenging ourselves to become a more diverse and inclusive organisation. We recognise that recruitment and inclusion of individuals with diverse skills, perspectives and backgrounds will bring real strength to the council and our communities. and welcome applications from everyone.
We are We offer an interview to everyone who declares a disability and meets the essential criteria for the role.
We are keen to make our interviews accessible. Let us know on your job application if you have a disability and need any reasonable adjustments.
We also look for applicants who share. We will ask you to evidence when you have demonstrated them as part of the selection process.
If appointed, the personal information we collect from you will be shared with Cifas who will use it to prevent fraud, other unlawful or dishonest conduct, malpractice, and other seriously improper conduct. If any of these are detected, you could be refused certain services or employment. Your personal information will also be used to verify your identity. Further details of how your information will be used by us and Cifas, and your data protection rights, can be found at .
Additional Information
This role is UK based and we will need to establish your Right to Work as part of the appointment process.
We use generic job descriptions and person specifications. This means the job title on any attachments may differ from the job title in the advert. We may provide specific information in a context statement if relevant.
We cannot accept CVs in the place of an application form as we need the same range of information from all our candidates.
Find out more about.
This post requires significant travel. You must have a vehicle (or transport we deem suitable) available for use as needed.