North East Wales National Park Project: Evaluation and Candidate Areas

Tender description

Provision of consultancy services for the identification of Evaluation and Candidate Areas for an Area of Search for a potential new national park in NE Wales. Lot 1: Natural Resources Wales (NRW) is looking to appoint a suitably skilled and experienced consultant to: Stage 1 i) Detailed evaluation of Natural Beauty and Recreation - Identify Evaluation Areas as sub-divisions of the Area of Search to provide a more manageable scale for evaluation of the area in question. - Evaluate each Evaluation Area for natural beauty in accordance with NRW’s procedural guidance on assessing land for designation and the natural beauty factors and criteria set out in the guidance. - Evaluate each Evaluation Area as to whether it affords sufficient opportunities for outdoor recreation according to the criteria set out in the procedural guidance. - Identify areas that appear likely to be able to meet the natural beauty and outdoor recreation criteria, termed Candidate Areas. ii) Desirability to designate - Contribute to judgement as to whether it is especially desirable to designate - for the National Park purposes to apply to the area. iii) Draft designation boundary - Define a boundary for the whole area in detail in accordance with explicit boundary-setting considerations. Stage 2 iv) Public consultation support and report - Provide technical support to the public consultation on the proposed area for a potential National Park. - Provide technical consultation report and recommend any changes to the Draft boundary. Stage 3 v) Public inquiry support - Provide technical support to any potential public inquiry on a proposed National Park. Natural Resources Wales (NRW) is intending to award a fixed term, three stage contract of approximately three years in total, commencing in April 2024. Stage 1 will be for a period of 4 months from April 2024. Stage 2 for a period of 6 months from September 2024 and Stage 3 for a period of 1 year from April 2026. Please note that Stage 2 and 3 are not guaranteed and are approximate and subject to timescale changes. To register your initial interest in this opportunity please email naomi.hammond@cyfoethnaturiolcymru.gov.uk Please note this PIN is not a call for competition