Welcome and thank you for your interest in learning more about City of York Council and our exciting Head of Environmental Services role.
As Director Environment, Transport and Planning, I am proud that York is often named as one of the top English cities to visit and one of the top places to live and work. We also topped a list of the top ten most productive top tier councils in England.
These accolades are in part due to the way our environment is managed. How the city looks to our residents and the 8 million visitors a year is vitally important, which is why I am looking for an ambitious individual who has a real passion for leading environmental services.
Reporting directly to me, this career enhancing opportunity will appeal to a visionary leader who will manage our in-house team making sure that we keep our historic squares and streets clean and maintain our parks and green spaces, whilst also ensuring that our residents receive a high quality refuse and recycling service, that continues its transition towards a circular economy. This is both an exciting and challenging time as we look to implement a number of key transformational programmes across the service, including the way in which we address future changes to recycling and help us continue on the journey to achieve our environmental targets. All this needs to be achieved while ensuring we retain strong employee engagement solutions as well as a strong customer focus.
You will be working with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders so it is essential that you are politically astute with excellent written and verbal communication and influencing skills, to allow you to develop contacts and relationships with front line employees, customers, external organisations and internal contacts and have experience of working alongside trade unions. You will be responsible for managing an allocated department budget, ensuring the service is fully compliant with all legislative, regulatory and council requirements.
I am looking for a strong leader who is motivated to deliver results, passionate about the service and who has the experience and skills to take ownership of the development of the team, as well as acting strategically to drive the service forward. If you can demonstrate previous experience in a senior management position, preferably within the field of waste and/ or public realm and have a track record of producing results, then I want to hear from you.
You will find that the role will provide you with the kind of professional challenge and complexity you will naturally aspire to as an ambitious leader - our size means that we are large enough to provide the rich mix of complexities facing local government, but at the same time we are small enough to enable you to get things done. So this key role will provide you with the opportunity to make a significant difference as well as a platform to enhance your career.
If you are interested in joining our team and are inspired to help lead the next phase of our journey, we look forward to your application. In the meantime, following an initial conversation with our recruitment partners at The Resourcing Solution, I would be delighted to discuss this opportunity with those who might wish to learn a little more.
Job title: Head of Environmental Services
Location: York / Hybrid
Contract: Full-time / Permanent
Salary: £65,503- 74,555 per annum plus relocation support
Now is an exciting time to play a leading role in York. Reporting to the Director Environment, Transport and Planning, this role will require you to demonstrate inspirational leadership and manage services and employees effectively, fostering a culture that supports the Council’s priorities and values.
Key aspects of the role:
- Implement the Council’s Health and Safety policy in your area, providing leadership on health and safety, setting and reviewing targets for improvement.
- Advise the Council’s leadership on service operations, policy, and strategy, acting as the Council’s ambassador and specialist for Waste and Public Realm Services.
- Lead transformation and change programs across Fleet and Waste Services, including reviewing and improving the council’s recycling collection model.
- Oversee management of public realm activities, including tree stock and playground inspections and ensure safety and compliance to prevent insurance claims.
- Develop and implement a neighbourhood model for waste management and public realm services.
- Focus on resident/customer liaison, staff engagement, and continuous improvement.
- Conduct a full-scale review of the Waste fleet, including the introduction of an electric fleet and implement mobile and in-cab technology for service efficiency.
- Foster a culture of customer service excellence, supporting the development and implementation of digital services.
- Engage and enable residents and communities to manage their neighbourhoods and develop initiatives to manage demand for council services.
- Work with the Director of Transport, Highways, and Environment on long-term strategic plans with a focus on policy development, service improvement, and project delivery.
- Develop services to maximize income generation and grant funding and explore alternative delivery models and cross-sector collaboration.
- Develop strategic partnerships with local authorities, government agencies, and professional bodies and foster internal cross-council collaboration and commercial contract partnerships.
- Influence regional and national policy on environmental issues and provide professional expertise and innovation in waste collection and public realm matters.
- Provide balanced advice and guidance to the Council’s Executive and Councillors and ensure effective implementation of policy decisions and enable scrutiny of services.
- Participate in the Transport, Highways, and Environment Management Team and deputize for the Director as required.
- Lead the preparation of the departmental service plan and communicate objectives and goals throughout the team.
- Lead on matters related to the York and North Yorkshire Waste Partnership and line manage the Waste Partnership Manager.
- Manage contracts with Yorwaste and ensure compliance with the Operators Licence agreement, and operate an efficient and commercially viable Fleet and Workshop service.
- Ensure corporate vehicle risk and manage corporate driver risk and ensure drivers are trained and competent, and monitor safe loading practices.
Please note that this post is politically restricted posts as defined by the Local Government and Housing Act 1989.
Now is an ideal time to join the City of York Council.
We are focused on four core principles at the centre of everything we do: Equalities, Affordability, Climate and Health and Wellbeing.
Our One City, for all, the City of York Council’s Council Plan (2023-2027), sets a strong ambition to increase opportunities for everyone living in York to live healthy and fulfilling lives, and supports our 10 year plan.
We have started the decade long journey – of our 10-year plan which sets a clear vision for the city - by 2032 we will be a city that is vibrant, prosperous, welcoming and sustainable, where everyone can share and take pride in its success. Our 10 year strategies underpin the plan and include the Climate Change Strategy, the Health and Wellbeing Strategy and the York Economic Strategy.
As Head of Environmental Services you will be joining us in the early phase of our 10-year journey, as well as the start of our Mayoral Combined Authority, with a commitment to achieve our Council Plan and you will be able to work with Executive and the Corporate Management Team to shape and steer the council to achieve our ambition.
In summary, York has a wealth of assets that mark our city as one of the leading economies in the North of England. We can build on these strengths; but must also pay attention to working inclusively to support all of our residents and businesses to thrive. Our aim is that all York offers is a fair, thriving, green city for all; a place where we live safely, healthy and thrive.
We are made up of passionate and determined problem solvers working together for the benefit of York. We invest heavily in our staff, providing them with an environment in which they can flourish.
Being a people-centred organisation means investing in the talent and wellbeing of our staff and there are many different ways in which we make this happen, including:
- Providing work which gives you the chance to make a difference to the lives of residents and colleagues;
- Supportive management, who enable you to thrive and fulfil your potential;
- Recognition for your hard work, through talent management and recognition;
- Support through the changing environment we are all living in;
- Flexible working practices; and
- A reward package which recognises your contribution.
As an organisation we promote professional development, hybrid working, employer supported volunteering and healthy working environments. We also offer a generous benefits package which includes 25 days annual leave increasing to 30 days upon completion of 5 years local government service, access to the Local Government Pension Scheme together with high street discounts and salary sacrifice schemes.
We are proud of York’s status as one of the safest and best cities to live in the UK, engaging our 202,000 residents and 7m visitors to live healthier, happier independent lives.
We are a vibrant, digital city at the heart of Yorkshire - the best of tradition and the modern. With excellent connectivity by road and rail, the neighbouring towns and cities of Leeds, Hull and Harrogate are in easy reach. National Parks and areas of areas outstanding natural beauty are on our doorstep, with their quaint villages and market towns, whilst the Yorkshire coast provides a retreat ideal for sunny days.
We are known for our considerable assets – we have our internationally important heritage, with strong creative industries and a significant cultural offering. We have strengths as a science city, and our digital infrastructure recognises us as the UK’s first Gigabit City. We have a young and highly skilled workforce, and lay claim to world-leading universities and some of the highest performing schools and colleges in the country.
We are ambitious and have set a vision for the Council that we will establish the conditions that would make the city of York a healthier, fairer, more affordable, more sustainable and more accessible place, where everyone feels valued, creating more regional opportunities to help today’s residents and benefit future generations - where local businesses can thrive and residents have good quality jobs, housing, opportunities and access to quality public services. We celebrate and champion the diversity of our population and encourage everyone to play an active role in the city, so that our vibrant economy and rich communities can make York the acclaimed city it is. We are one of the safest cities in the country and offer some of best available education.
A city of Sanctuary and Human Rights, our community is truly multicultural and diverse. We are the first city in the North of England to set the aspiration to make our city an anti- racist and inclusive one. We are committed to tackling discrimination and improving customer experience in all aspects of services that the Council delivers, including public health, in order to have an impact and bring about positive change to our residents.
Our thriving retail and visitor economy welcomes millions of visitors every year. We have been recognised as the ‘foodie centre of the universe’ and our Christmas market is the best in the UK. Our many awards include Sunday Times best place to live, Conde Nast city of best architecture, recently 240m booking.com reviewers voted us the 6th most welcoming place on the planet (and the only place in UK in the top ten!) and in 2018 YouGov found that we are the nation’s favourite city. We are friendly, community-spirited, festive and summer-friendly – what’s not to like?
Read more about living in York [3 MB] (pdf).
If you are relocating to the area to take up the post, subject to the business case being reviewed, we will provide relocation support, see further details below.
