Procurment Co-ordinator

North East Cotswold Farmer Cluster; Oxford; Hybrid; GBP 26,000 - 36,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working

Company pension

Sick pay

Generous annual leave

Flexitime

Job summary

Evenlode Landscape Recovery (ELR) is delivering Defra's landscape recovery programme across the North East Cotswolds. The Permits, Licences & Consents Administrator will identify, prepare, submit and track permits and licences to ensure works proceed lawfully and on time.

Working with regulators such as the Environment Agency and Natural England, you will maintain a detailed consents register and support delivery teams with regulatory guidance, translating requirements into practical site

Qualifications

• Strong administrative and organisational skills with excellent attention to detail.
• Confidence handling structured processes, forms and documentation, and tracking multiple items to deadlines.
• Clear and professional written communication and ability to liaise with regulators.

Responsibilities

• Identify permits, licences and consents required for planned works with technical teams.
• Prepare, compile and submit applications to regulators and authorities with supporting information.
• Maintain a consents register tracking status, conditions and expiry of all applications and approvals.
• Discharge obligations after consent, including post‑consent monitoring and regulator reports.
• Ensure regulatory requirements are translated into practical steps for delivery teams.

Skills

Administrative excellence

Regulatory liaison

Document management

Google Workspace

Attention to detail

Education

Experience in regulatory processes

Some exposure to environmental/planning/regulatory processes

Tools

Google Workspace

Regulatory databases

Job description

Evenlode Landscape Recovery (ELR) is delivering one of Defra's ambitious 25-year Landscape Recovery programmes across the North East Cotswolds. Spanning approximately 3,031 hectares and around 50 farm holdings in the Dorn, Glyme and Evenlode river catchments, the programme brings together farmers, landowners and partners to restore rivers and habitats, improve water quality, reduce flood risk and create lasting environmental and economic value.

ELR works hand in hand with the North East Cotswold Farmer Cluster CIC, a farmer-led community interest company committed to nature-friendly farming at a landscape scale. Together we combine ambitious environmental delivery with a genuinely collaborative, farmer-first approach. As we move into an exciting delivery phase, we are building a talented team to help us realise our long-term vision.

The role

The Permits, Licences & Consents Administrator is how we demonstrate that our works meet the highest standards of environmental compliance. By identifying, preparing, submitting and tracking the permits, licences and consents that environmental works require, you will give regulators, funders and our farmer members confidence in how we deliver and make sure projects can proceed lawfully, on time and without avoidable delay. It is a crucial enabling role at the heart of programme delivery.

Key responsibilities

Identifying what's needed

• Working closely with the technical team, identify the permits, licences and consents required for planned works, for example environmental permits, flood-risk activity permits, protected-species licences, abstraction and land-drainage consents, and planning permissions
• Monitor regulatory timelines and flag consenting requirements early so they can be built into delivery programmes

Applications and liaison

• Prepare, compile and submit applications to the relevant regulators and authorities, working with the delivery and technical teams to assemble the supporting information each one needs
• Liaise with regulators and statutory bodies including the Environment Agency, Natural England, the Forestry Commission, local planning authorities and lead local flood authorities to progress applications and resolve queries

Register, conditions and compliance

• Maintain a consents register tracking the status, conditions and expiry of all applications and approvals
• Track and discharge the obligations that follow a consent, including pre-commencement conditions, post-consent monitoring and any reports due back to the regulator
• Make sure the conditions attached to permits and consents are understood, communicated and met by delivery teams, translating regulatory requirements into practical steps colleagues can actually follow on site, and working with them early rather than policing them late

Records and support

• Maintain accurate, well-organised records and documentation for audit and reporting
• Support colleagues with regulatory guidance and administrative coordination, and keep the team abreast of relevant regulatory change

Person specification

• Strong administrative and organisational skills, with excellent attention to detail
• Confidence handling structured processes, forms and documentation, and tracking multiple items to deadlines
• Clear and professional written communication
• Comfortable liaising with external bodies and building constructive working relationships
• A methodical, proactive approach and the ability to work independently in a remote role
• Proficiency with Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets and Gmail)
• Able to get to grips with a diversity of environmental and land-based projects and the regulatory regime that applies to each
• Some exposure to environmental, planning, land-management, ecology or regulatory processes (through study, placement or work)
• Awareness of environmental permitting and protected-species licensing regimes understanding when a licence is needed and what obtaining one involves. You will not need to hold specialist ecological licences yourself; we commission that expertise.
• A demonstrable interest in the environment, farming or rural affairs
• Experience of a small business, charity, CIC or start-up environment
• Finds genuine satisfaction in a well-kept register and a deadline seen coming
• Persistent and courteous in equal measure, and as attentive to colleagues as to regulators
• Asks why a consent is needed, not just whether the form is complete and can explain to colleagues why it matters and how it bears on the job in hand
• Wants to grow into the regulatory side of environmental delivery, not just pass through it

How we work

• We're a small team delivering a scheme at a serious scale, which means the process is still being built as we go. You'll help shape how this function works, and your remit will be wider than your job title suggests
• We move quickly and fix things as we learn, rather than waiting for the perfect process before we start
• You’ll be trusted with real responsibility early, owning the consents register and being the person the delivery team relies on to keep works lawful
• We're a close team. You'll work directly with the people making the decisions
• Remote-first, with occasional travel to the programme area

What you'll get

• Real ownership of a consents function that's being built rather than maintained
• Exposure to the full span of environmental regulation: the Environment Agency, Natural England, the Forestry Commission, planning authorities and lead local flood authorities early in your career
• Support to develop toward environmental, planning or regulatory specialisms
• Flexible working, a workplace pension and a generous annual leave entitlement
• The chance to play a meaningful part in a flagship, long-term environmental programme
• Company pension
• Flexitime
• Sick pay

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Oxford (Oxfordshire)