Provision of Custodianship and volunteer management services of countryside sites

Tender description

The Councils’ management of the sites relies heavily on the use of groups of volunteers drawn from the local communities, this engenders a sense of ‘ownership’ from within those communities and plays a large part in ensuring that the sites can be managed economically. In return the managing organisation is expected to be experienced in the management and co-ordination of volunteers and to support their training needs and welfare. As a minimum, the Councils will expect volunteer and community involvement to be maintained at existing levels in any new contract. All of the sites are managed to enhance their ecological value and several of the sites are subject to biological designations. A successful contractor would be expected to have experience of working on sensitive sites and an understanding of the biological processes that maintain their special interest. Keywords: custodianship, volunteer management, countryside sites