Leather of bovine or equine animals

Tender description

Sandwell MBC covers 8 547 hectares with approx 309 000 residents and 877 km of public highways. Dudley MBC covers 9 796 hectares with approx 316 000 residents and 880 km of public highways. The problem of illegally grazed and stray horses has been endemic within the whole of the Black Country for decades. It has been the practice of horse owners to tether or just leave their animals on parks, football pitches, nature reserves and other open land. The tethering of horses is not prohibited by law, but is unauthorised on Council Land. This results in a range of problems including; direct damage to land, loss of amenities such as football pitches, planted and wooded areas being destroyed and potential injury to the public or motorists. In addition to the health and safety problems, stray and tethered horses cause nuisance and result in a considerable volume of complaints from the public which are directed at both the Council and police. There is a desire, within the local population, to own horses and a consequence the Council has had to adopt a reasonably practical approach to reduce the risk of injury to persons and damage to property within limited resources. Therefore priority will be given to situations where there is the highest risk, such as on or adjacent to highways, or well used footpaths. The Council's key objectives for managing Stray and illegally grazed horses. The Council is keen to establish a robust and long term arrangement by appointing a contractor to address both the issue of planned enforcement activity and a comprehensive reactive response service to collect stray horses from the highway via a tendering process.