BT1471 SuDS In Schools

The Council in its role as a Lead Local Flood Authority is responsible for managing flood risk locally. In the 2015 Local Flood Risk Management Strategy the Council set the following aim: "To enable the management and communication of the risks and consequences of flooding arising from rivers, surface water runoff and groundwater in the borough of Luton". The objectives to achieve this include: "increasing awareness of flood risk in Luton" and "achieving wider environmental benefits".

The Council is a lead partner in Resilient and Adaptive Communities (RAC) project with the ambition to reduce flood risk and become resilient to climate change, whilst delivering integrated social, economic and environmental benefits. The SuDS in Schools project will support part of a delivery of a pilot scheme under the RAC strategy.

To achieve these ambitions and support the implementation of pilot projects the Council, in partnership with Department for Education and the Environment Agency, is seeking consultancy support to identify, assess and mitigate surface water flood risk at or around three schools in the borough. Specifically, consultancy support is needed to provide the information/evidence base required by Section 2 ('Opportunity description') of the Thames Water SWMP application form (See appendix A for the application form - please note this is subject to updates).The outcomes of the tender will be:

Section1: Background & Context

Luton Borough Council is committed to mitigating flood risk to people, properties and infrastructure within the borough. A Surface Water Management Plan (endorsed by the Council's Executive Committee in 2011) and Local Flood Risk Management Strategy have identified objectives to manage flooding and communicate risks locally. More recently, the Resilient and Adaptive Communities strategy has been endorsed in 2021 by the CEO and leader of the Council as it aligns to the Luton 2040 vision, and supports the strategic priorities of the Council (See appendix B) as well as the Thames Flood Risk Management Plan.

Thames Water is anticipated to invite applications for funding from their Surface Water Management Programme (SWMP) in mid-February 2022 which is part of their performance commitment as part of water industry's Asset Management Plan 7 (AMP7, 2020-2025). Successful applications for Thames Water SWMP funding must use SuDS and disconnect or attenuate surface water flows from Thames Water's network. The Council would like to apply to this invitation for funding to support the SuDS in Schools project.

Section 2: Service Requirement

The selected consultant must provide:

1st Phase Initial screening