Find a TenderPast planning noticePreliminary market engagement notice
Published 18 Jul 2025, 10:05 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Delamere Forest Concession Opportunity

Official notice

Authority: Forestry Commission (Public body)

ServicesAbove thresholdConcession
Concession value (operator's revenue)£4,583,333operator revenue, not the authority's budget
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 10 yrsends 15 Mar 2036 · starts 15 Mar 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Forestry England have a potential future opportunity at Delamere Forest for the provision of a concession installation. Forestry England are currently researching potential commercial uses for the current bike hire building on site. We are seeking interest and feedback from the wider market as to potential appropriate activities/services that would be a cohesive fit with the forestry environment and our visitor profile at the Delamere site.

Delamere Forest is the largest woodland in Cheshire, covering an area of 972 hectares. A mixture of woodland, internationally important meres and mosses, as well as Old Pale Heights – the highest point in the Cheshire Plain – and several Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Delamere has excellent transport links and lies between the Manchester, Liverpool and Chester conurbations. Welcoming approximately 750,000 visitors each year, Delamere is a popular destination for outdoor activities like walking, running, cycling and horse riding. There are also a number of annual sports events, as well as Forestry England’s annual music series, Forest Live.

As one of Forestry England’s flagship sites, the visitor facilities are centred around the state-of-the-art Visitor Centre, which was built in 2020. Facilities include a number of carparks, a café, education, Go Ape, waymarked trails and several long-distance Public Rights of Way that cut through the forest. There’s also a Forest Holidays location within Delamere, consisting of 62 luxury cabins and a retreat.

Forestry England are currently scoping our requirements to ensure that any future tender documentation accurately reflects the offerings of the market. We invite companies from the market to register their interest in this future requirement and provide feedback on potential clarifications and the feasibility of our emerging plans. We also invite suppliers to provide suggestions on potential concessions that they believe would be a suitable fit for the Delamere forest site.

To view this notice, please click here:

forestryengland.delta-esourcing.com/delta/viewNotice.html ↗

CPV: Recreational, cultural and sporting services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 10 yrs
Contract period: 15 Mar 2026 – 15 Mar 2036 (10 yrs)
Delivery: North West

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Procurement category
Services
Notice status
Past planning notice
Procurement threshold
Above threshold (FTS publication)
Regulatory regime
Concession
Commercial structure
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Unspecified in notice
Recurring procurement
Unspecified in notice
First published
18 Jul 2025, 10:05 BST
Last source update
18 Jul 2025, 10:05 BST
Authority reference
FCCN003852
FTS notice number
2025/S 000-041192
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Recreational, cultural and sporting services
Delivery area
North West (UKD6)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0561e3 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

18 Jul 2025 → 15 Mar 2026 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published
    18 Jul 2025, 10:05 BST
  2. Market engagement
    21 Aug 2025, 23:59 BST

    We invite companies from the market to register their interest in this future requirement and provide feedback on potential clarifications and the feasibility of our emerging plans. We also invite suppliers to provide suggestions on potential concessions that they believe would be a suitable fit for the Delamere forest site.

    While we expect any new opportunity to be open during our peak visitor times (i.e., weekends and school holidays) any opportunity to attract new visitors or outside our peak times will be considered.

    Please register your interest with commercial.services@forestryengland.uk by close of business Thursday 21st August 2025.

  3. Contract starts228 days ago
    15 Mar 2026

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    18 Jul 2025, 10:05 BST
    UK2

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Pipeline notice
Awards (0)
No award published
Contracts (0)
No contract published
Bid statistics
No aggregate bid statistics published

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

Forestry England

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PLRM-7846-HGLG 620 Bristol Business Park, Bristol, South West, BS16 1EJContact name, email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure