WORCESTERSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL SUSTAINABILITY APPRAISAL OF THE WORCESTERSHIRE MINERALS LOCAL PLAN

Tender description

Worcestershire County Council is seeking to engage a single suitably qualified organisation to undertake a Sustainability Appraisal (SA), including Strategic Environmental Assessment, of the Worcestershire Minerals Local Plan fourth stage and any subsequent SA outputs necessary to support a sound Minerals Local Plan. The provider will work closely with the Council to ensure that a legally compliant SA is produced. WCC is preparing a new Minerals Local Plan for Worcestershire. This document will set out how we plan for mineral extraction in the county. It will guide how much and what minerals we need to be able to supply, where minerals should be extracted, how sites should be 'restored' when working has finished and how minerals development should protect and enhance Worcestershire's people and places. Once it is adopted it will replace the existing minerals policies in the Hereford and Worcester Minerals Local Plan and will be part of the Development Plan for Worcestershire, to be used to make decisions about planning applications for mineral extraction, processing and restoration in the county. The MLP is approaching its fourth stage of consultation. Each previous stage of the MLP was accompanied by an SA report produced in-house by WCC officers. Due to internal resource constraints, external consultants are being engaged to produce the SA of the MLP's fourth stage, and any subsequent SA input necessary to support a sound MLP. This also provides an opportunity for a 'critical friend' review to ensure that, as WCC approaches examination in public, the SA process to date can be demonstrated to be robust and legally compliant. Full details of the opportunity and instructions regarding how to apply are given in these documents. If you wish to view the documents for this opportunity please click `Express Interest`. Following this, if you wish to apply for this opportunity please click `Opt in` which will then enable you to view and complete the Sustainability Appraisal Minerals Local Plan Questionnaire and upload the relevant documents. After uploading all required documents and completing the questionnaire, please remember to press the `Submit your Return` button at the bottom of the page. Suppliers will receive a system generated email to confirm successful submission of their return. Any questions or clarification should be conducted via `Correspondence` through this portal. Response to questions will be through the clarification tab and also put in the 'Synopsis' section