Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (Level 1), Water Cycle Study and Flood Risk Assessment of Allocated Sites for South Worcestershire Development Plan Review

Tender description

Malvern Hills District Council is inviting Tenders from Potential Consultants on behalf of the South Worcestershire Councils (SWC) (Malvern Hills District Council, Worcester City Council and Wychavon District Council) for the provision of a Level 1 Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (SFRA) including a Water Cycle Study (WCS) (stage 1) and a Flood Risk Assessment of Allocated Sites (stage 2). Interested Consultants should submit their proposed methodology to meet the requirements set out in the Specification and provide a detailed breakdown of costs. The submission must be robust, as it will be subjected to detailed scrutiny during the South Worcestershire Development Plan Review (SWDPR) Examination in Public (EIP). The proposal should indicate the timing of each element of work, including submission of draft reports and time for these to be revised before publication of a final level 1 SFRA, Water Cycle Study and Flood Risk Assessment of Allocated Sites reports by end of March 2019 in order to inform the publication of the South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP) Preferred Options (PO) scheduled for November 2019. The SWDPR is seeking to balance the areas future needs for housing and employment growth with its environmental limitations (including flood risk). The SWC initially require a level 1 SFRA and associated Water Cycle Study to identify the potential flood risks across the districts, followed by further flood risk assessment work to determine the suitability of ‘preferred’ development sites as they emerge through the SWDPR process to help produce a robust, detailed and up to date evidence base. Following on from this a further stage of work may be required to produce a more detailed assessment of the flooding implications of options for development sites only if land outside flood risk areas can’t appropriately accommodate all the necessary development and the National Planning Policy Framework’s Exception Test needs to be applied (separate to this tender). All work produced must factor in Climate Change and assess the impact that land use changes and development in the area will have on flood risk. Keywords: South Worcestershire Development Plan Review, Strategic Flood Risk Assessment, Water Cycle Study, Flood Risk Assessment of Allocated Sites