Published date: 15 November 2016

This notice was replaced on 15 November 2016

This notice does not contain the most up-to-date information about this procurement. The most recent notice is:

Awarded contract (published 11 January 2017)

Closed opportunity - This means that the contract is currently closed. The buying department may be considering suppliers that have already applied, or no suitable offers were made.


Contract summary

Industry

  • Research consultancy services - 73210000

  • Natural resources management or conservation strategy planning services - 90712400

Location of contract

Any region

Value of contract

£0

Procurement reference

tender_132946/548781

Published date

15 November 2016

Closing date

9 December 2016

Contract start date

19 December 2016

Contract end date

31 March 2017

Contract type

Service contract

Procedure type

Open procedure

Any interested supplier may submit a tender in response to an opportunity notice.

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

Yes

Description

Defra procuring on behalf of Natural England:
Functionally linked land describes undesignated areas lying beyond the boundary of a protected site that is nevertheless used by classified bird populations. Where an essential ecological function, such as foraging, occurs beyond a site boundary, this area is termed functionally linked land, or is known as functional habitat. As the presence of this land is essential in meeting a species' needs, damage or deterioration of this habitat could in turn impact upon the classified population.

The presence of functional habitat is frequently associated with bird species that use farmland because, with a few exceptions, farmland has not tended to be incorporated within protected site boundaries. Wildfowl, in particular, make significant use of functional farmland habitat (in some cases foraging almost exclusively beyond the site boundary) and, owing to their large foraging distances, can be found well inland of the Special Protection Areas (SPAs) which were, in part, classified for their non-breeding populations.

Natural England has recently seen an increase in planning consultations (e.g. for solar energy schemes) with the potential to affect areas of functionally linked land used by SPA/Ramsar waterbirds. We also have to consider in-combination and cumulative effects, and it is therefore not possible to dismiss impact for projects on account of their comparative scale when considered alone. For example, potentially 1,000s of ha of functionally linked land around one SPA could be impacted in total when solar energy schemes and other projects are considered together.
The overall aim of the work is to produce a generic tool that can be adjusted by the end-user (i.e. Natural England members of staff) to take into account site-specifics (e.g. species present, population size, arable rotation / local farm practice).

More information

Additional text

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About the buyer

Address

Natural England
Peterborough
PE1 1NG
England

Email

Supplier.enquiries@naturalengland.org.uk