The Aire and Calder Catchment Partnership
Call for expressions of interest in providing support
to The Aire and Calder Catchment Partnership
Background
The Aire and Calder Partnership is a ‘Catchment Host’ operating across the catchments of the Rivers
Aire and Calder, from source to its confluence with the Ouse at Airmyn. Our raison d’être is to bring
together stakeholders in the waterways and catchments to identify and facilitate delivery of
priorities, strategy and projects to improve the rivers and their catchments. Our Vision is for:
A healthy and wildlife-rich water environment within the Aire
and Calder that is valued and enjoyed, bringing increasing
social and economic benefits to all.
The Strategic Outcomes/Benefits that we seek are shown in Annex 1.
Requirements
The Partnership wish to contract an organisation or self-employed individual to provide some or all
of the following services. Item 1 is a necessity, others are listed in priority order.
Initially, we are seeking expressions of interest from individuals or organisations with whom we will
want to discuss our detailed requirements before offering a formal invitation to quote for the work.
We would expect the individual actually delivering the work to already be familiar with the concept
and work of a Catchment Host.
If you are an organisation, we would prefer that these services should preferably be provided by a
single named individual, although we are open to other suggestions.
We are seeking support for the general purposes of:
1. Acting as secretariat to the Partnership
Partnership meetings occur six (6) times per year, plus an annual wider stakeholder
gathering which would require arranging and supporting.
a. Arranging meetings – dates and locations
b. Creating, in conjunction with the Chairman and the Project Lead, agendas
for meetings and then circulating to members
c. Taking notes, action points and circulating to members
d. Following up any delegated actions
e. In conjunction with the Chairman and Project Lead, handling requests from
non-members of the partnership for time on the agenda
The Aire and Calder Partnership is a Catchment Host, hosted by The Aire Rivers Trust, a company registered in England & Wales No.
07464227 and a charity Registration No. 1145609
The Aire and Calder Catchment Partnership
2. Identifying Stakeholder Priorities
We are keen to establish the differing priorities of different stakeholder groups, in order that
we can then develop a coherent and comprehensive set of priorities and projects to guide
the future work of the Partnership. To date, we have identified 3 key groups of stakeholders:
a) “Professionals” – those whose formal role in a stakeholder organisation relates
to maintenance and improvement of rivers and/or their catchments. These are
typically paid officers of public authorities and other organisations such as
Wildlife Trusts.
b) “Representatives” – those, typically unpaid, individuals who represent an
organisation speaking for a key stakeholder group such as fishermen, canoeists,
ramblers, ‘Friends of’ Groups
c) “Mrs Jones” – named to represent the unaffiliated individuals in the general
population who may or may not have a specific identified interest.
The contract will provide for establishing and piloting processes designed to investigate and
collate the opinions, needs and priorities of selected stakeholders in the second and third
groups above regarding improving the quality of the Rivers Aire and Calder and their
catchments:
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Identifying appropriate stakeholders
Identifying appropriate processes for gathering their input
 We anticipate that different engagement processes may be needed for
different stakeholder groups. We are also conscious that much advice and
material already exists in “The CaBA Hub” and will expect this to be used as
a major resource.
 Producing the necessary materials to enable others to facilitate subsequent
engagement events
Running pilot events to demonstrate the materials and processes and enable other
volunteers to run subsequent events
Collating and making sense of the data gathered (by the project officer and/or
others) to produce a list of priorities for improvement
3. Developing an action plan
We wish to develop a prioritised strategic action plan outlining what key actions need to be
taken where in order to improve the rivers and their catchments. The contractor will be
required to develop this strategic plan based on the information gathered from stakeholder
analysis and discussions with partners (many of whom already hold relevant data).
The plan should identify likely lead and other partners for each project listed and show
indicative costs.
4. Publicity for the Partnership
With a desire to become the focal point for dialogue and action around river and catchment
improvement, it is important that we keep stakeholders informed of our activity. We
welcome suggestions for how to do this effectively with the different categories of
stakeholder identified in 2 above and your proposal for implementing this communication
route. Our current thoughts are that this will include, but not necessarily be limited to:
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Producing a quarterly newsletter for all identified stakeholders
Populating social media on behalf of the partnership and promoting signup
The Aire and Calder Partnership is a Catchment Host, hosted by The Aire Rivers Trust, a company registered in England & Wales No.
07464227 and a charity Registration No. 1145609
The Aire and Calder Catchment Partnership

Develop, populate & maintain website
5. Identification of sources of funds and assistance with writing bids for project funding.
A major challenge facing the Partnership is our lack of resources for putting together
projects, identifying potential partners and creating funding applications. We seek help to
identify and promote founding opportunities sources and to help facilitate quality
applications e.g. through liaison with partner organisations, provision of guidance, arranging
workshops etc. and your proposals in this area will be especially welcome.
We would expect your eventual submission to include a list of activities including the expected
duration and timescale. As we anticipate additional ad-hoc work, we would welcome an indication of
your daily rate for supporting such work.
Please submit your initial expression of interest no later than 17th August 2015. We will be holding a
single event, to which all potential bidders will be invited, to elaborate further and discuss our
requirements; you will be able to ask questions and seek clarification at this event, which will be
held on the afternoon of 27th August 2015 (we will send you more details nearer the time). You are
encouraged to submit your queries by email (to geoffroberts@aireandcalderpartnership.org) prior
to that date, but responses will only be made on the day of the event. Subsequent to that you will
have the opportunity to submit detailed proposals for receipt no later than 12noon on 17th
September 2015. A short list will be developed and shortlisted candidates invited for interview on
28th September.
Deadline for expressions of interest
Information and clarification meeting
Deadline for submissions
Shortlisted candidates informed
Interviews
17th August 2015
27th August
17th September
22nd September
28th September
The work will be offered/contracted on behalf of the Partnership by the Aire Rivers Trust, as the
formal Catchment Host, and handled by a small group of Partnership members. For the sake of
clarity, this will be a contract for services, not any form of employment.
Your initial expression of interest should be sent to the address below:
Geoff Roberts
Aire and Calder Catchment Partnership
2 Tyersal House,
Tyersal Lane,
Bradford
BD4 0RE
Please also send an electronic copy to geoffroberts@aireandcalderpartnership.org .
The Aire and Calder Partnership is a Catchment Host, hosted by The Aire Rivers Trust, a company registered in England & Wales No.
07464227 and a charity Registration No. 1145609
The Aire and Calder Catchment Partnership
Annex 1
The Benefits we envisage will be environmental, economic and social:
Environmental:
The Rivers Aire and Calder and their wider water environment will form one connected
ecosystem, of high ecological quality, sustainable into the long-term, and resilient to the impacts
of climate change and human pressures. The improved quality and connectivity of habitats across
the landscape will allow species to move over larger distances, forming robust wildlife populations
for both aquatic and terrestrial species.
Economic:
Our rivers and water environment will benefit economic growth and regeneration by providing an
attractive, high quality environment for the setting of businesses, work places and homes.
Tourists will be attracted to these high quality environments contributing to growth in the visitor
economy of the region. Natural flood management through river, floodplain and catchment
restoration will reduce flood risk, contributing to sustainable economic growth. The enhanced
quality of the water environment will help secure the provision of ecosystem services such as
flood defence and water resource management.
Social:
The rivers and water environment in the Aire and Calder will be valued by the local community
and will attract visitors to the area. There will be increased recreational opportunities for
residents and visitors alike. People will have improved health and wellbeing from better access to
a network of high value green spaces connecting the water environment via greenways and other
people friendly routes.
Our Strategic Objectives
1. Habitats and Species (Biodiversity)
1.1 Create a landscape scale ecological network of habitats, representative of location, along the
river corridors by increasing the connectivity, diversity and quality of bankside habitat, and
restoring fish passage and in-stream habitats to enable the recovery and sustainability of aquatic
fauna and flora.
1.2 Assess and carry out the conservation requirements of species that cannot be addressed
through in channel and bankside habitat works e.g. White-clawed crayfish.
2. Water Management
2.1 Improve water quality to meet Water Framework Directive Ecological Status (Potential) in the
waterbodies within the catchment.
2.2 Minimise flood risk and maximise water resources through the creation of floodplain habitat
and the attenuation of water in the wider landscape.
2.3 Engage with land managers across the wider catchment to encourage sensitive land
management and land-use to maximise water attenuation, carbon sequestration and address the
problems of both urban diffuse pollution and rural diffuse pollution.
3. Planning and Regeneration
3.1 Work with key stakeholders, especially the LNP, to realise opportunities through the planning
process and regeneration initiatives to achieve Catchment Objectives and sustainable waterways
development which respects landscape character and the features within it.
3.2 Ensure that improvements to rivers, habitats and landscape in the catchments support a
healthy local economy and the well-being of local communities.
The Aire and Calder Partnership is a Catchment Host, hosted by The Aire Rivers Trust, a company registered in England & Wales No.
07464227 and a charity Registration No. 1145609
The Aire and Calder Catchment Partnership
3.3 Recommend and promote landscape management and land-use planning strategies to achieve
conservation, restoration or enhancement.
4. Recreation and Leisure (including tourism and heritage)
4.1 Improve peoples’ access to the waterways in a strategic way which maximises the recreational
resource and avoids detrimental impacts on wildlife.
4.2 Develop the tourism potential of the waterways within the catchment.
5. Engagement and Education
5.1 Facilitate the delivery of projects which help meet Catchment Partnership Objectives by
empowering people to own local issues and promote and take action on local solutions, within the
framework of the wider Catchment Objectives.
5.2 Promote and help people understand the socio-economic benefits brought about by more
environmentally sustainable management within the river corridors and wider catchment.
5.3 Seek other peoples’ views on how the rivers and catchments can be managed and developed
in more sustainable ways.
5.4 Coordinate existing monitoring programmes and seek to expand these geographically and
thematically where relevant to meet Catchment Objectives.
The Aire and Calder Partnership is a Catchment Host, hosted by The Aire Rivers Trust, a company registered in England & Wales No.
07464227 and a charity Registration No. 1145609