Street Cleansing Operative - Driver

Overview

Buckinghamshire Council’s Street Scene Team delivers street cleansing and grounds maintenance services across Aylesbury Vale and is currently recruiting for Street Cleansing Operative - Drivers

About us

Buckinghamshire Council is a relatively new organisation that combines the strengths and expertise of the previous five councils in the county to create positive change for local people, communities, and businesses. We are firmly focused on the future and have made a clear commitment to serve residents better and to provide stronger representation for Buckinghamshire, both locally and nationally. 

The team sits within our Communities Directorate, which works across the county to deliver crucial customer-facing services that our residents, businesses and visitors rely on every day. This includes collecting and disposing of waste, maintaining highways and managing country parks, leisure facilities and libraries. The customer is central to how we develop and deliver these services, which help to maintain Buckinghamshire as a great place to live, work and visit. 

At Buckinghamshire Council, we know that our biggest strength comes from the people that work for us, and that’s why we’re working hard to ensure we continue to be an accessible and inclusive organisation. From dedicated staff networks overseen by our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group, to proudly standing as a Disability Confident employer, it’s important to us that all our colleagues feel engaged, listened to, and valued.

We believe our workforce should reflect the diverse communities we service in Buckinghamshire, and are looking for like-minded individuals to join us in promoting equality, fairness, and inclusion for everyone.

About the role

Fixed

As a ‘fixed’ worker, you’ll spend most of your time in the same location, which will likely be a fixed office or location where your role is performed. Typically, you’ll be based in the same location as the rest of your team, because you provide a particular service from that fixed location or need access to information there.

The Street Scene Team provides a safe and efficient frontline operational service to members of the public and wider community. You will be responsible for delivering cleansing services using equipment and machines in accordance with the relevant legislation and company policies. A blend of induction and formal training will be provided and reinforced through periods of work experience in our commitment to supporting your continuous personal development.

All personal protective equipment and clothing will be provided. Working mainly independently, you will deliver a range of street cleansing duties, including:

• Emptying dog & litter bins across Aylesbury Vale
• Litter picking
• High speed road litter picking
• Graffiti removal
• Fly tip removal
• Dead animal removal
• Community litter pick removal
• Town centre cleansing
• Car park cleansing
• Street furniture cleansing
• Weeding

About you

You will be trustworthy, proactive, and have a commitment to working safely. If you enjoy working outside come rain or shine and take pride in your work and the local area, then this could be just the job for you!

A full UK driving license is essential and category C1 or above would be advantageous

Other information

39 hours per week. There are three shift patterns.

• Monday to Thursday – 06:00 – 14:30, 07:00 – 15:30, 09:00 – 18:00
• Friday – 06:00 – 13:30, 07:00 – 14:30, 10:00 – 18:00
• 1 weekend of overtime per month (Saturday – 06:00 – 18:00, Sunday 06:00 – 16:00) is compulsory

The shifts allocated are dependent upon which tasks you will be required to complete. We try to keep people on a consistent work pattern; however, a degree of flexibility is required.

Further overtime is available.

Benefits / Training Opportunities

A well as secure, long-term employment, Buckinghamshire Council provides a wealth of benefits:

• Local Government Pension scheme
• 25 days annual leave + 8 bank holidays. Annual leave rises to 30 days with 5 years continuous local government employment
• Discounts on local restaurants, gyms, leisure facilities, eye tests, childcare, MOT’s and more
• Car loan scheme
• Overtime readily available

Technical training opportunities include:

• PA1 & PA6 (Chemical spraying qualification)
• Identification of invasive and injurious weeds
• Road traffic management
• Risk assessment training
• Manual handling training
• Emergency first aid at work & first aid at work
• Fully funded CPC courses
• Mechanical sweeper training
• Street cleansing – Cleansing & Support services QCF level 2

This post is covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare:

• All unspent cautions and/or unspent convictions

For further information on how long it takes for cautions and convictions cautions to become spent, please refer to our guide on the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (updated 2023) | Nacro

We reserve the right to close the vacancy once we have received sufficient applications, so please be advised to submit your application as early as possible.

Our values and culture

We have a set of values, which our employees have chosen, that represent what we are – Proud, Ambitious, Collaborative and Trustworthy.

By joining Buckinghamshire Council, you can expect:

• a fair and inclusive culture
• the chance to really make a difference to those around you
• health and well-being initiatives including an Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and mindfulness workshops
• a unified voice through our Employee Representative Group
• ongoing support, and the opportunity to develop and progress in your career with us
• opportunities to take part in fun activities such as fundraising and social events

At Buckinghamshire Council, we know that our biggest strength comes from the people that work for us, and that’s why we’re working hard to ensure we continue to be an accessible and inclusive organisation.

From dedicated staff networks overseen by our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group, to proudly standing as a Disability Confident employer, it’s important to us that all our colleagues feel engaged, listened to, and valued. Our offer of flexible working empowers a productive and happy workforce and allows employees to combine work with other responsibilities and commitments.

We believe our workforce should reflect the diverse communities we service in Buckinghamshire, and are looking for like-minded individuals to join us in promoting equality, fairness, and inclusion for everyone.

About the Business Unit

Our Communities directorate works across the county to deliver a number of the key customer-facing services that our residents, businesses and visitors rely on every day. 

This directorate includes a wide range of services, including:

• collecting and disposing of waste and recycling
• maintaining our roads and Rights of Way network and parking
• ensuring the delivery of school transport, and supporting sustainable travel including public bus services and School Crossing Patrollers
• managing Country Parks
• leisure facilities, museums, theatres and libraries, as well as developing our Cultural Strategy
• licensing, cemeteries and crematoria

The customer is central to how we develop and deliver all of these services, which help promote our rich and vibrant culture and special environment. 

We are looking for enthusiastic, ambitious and committed individuals to join our team and help us to continue to make Buckinghamshire a great place to live, work and visit. This is an exciting time for us as we bring together the services previously run by five separate councils before Buckinghamshire Council was created. Whilst making major changes to contracts affecting residents across Bucks, we continue to focus on delivering great customer service. You will join us on our journey of continuous improvement - whether that’s through developing strategies and ways of working or delivering services on the ground, every person in Communities is a valued member of the team.

We recognise and reward you

Hard work and success deserves recognition. That’s why we pride ourselves on the benefits we give our people. We actively encourage a good work-life balance and promote flexible and agile working arrangements. We provide discounts on various Cafés, restaurants, shops and auto enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme. In addition to the opportunity to gain membership to Costco, we have discounted gym memberships, travel discounts with Arriva and much more.

https://jobs.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/working-buckinghamshire-council/