Consultants needed for Cycle Tourism Project

Preparation of a Feasibility Study and Delivery Plan for Cycle Tourism in Penrith and the Eden Valley

Nurture Lakeland wish to appoint experienced consultants to prepare a Feasibility Study for the further development of: Penrith as a ‘Cycle Hub’ and cycle tourism in the Eden Valley. The company will need to have proven practical experience in working with organisations and key stakeholders to develop cycling infrastructure and cycle tourism.

Our vision:

Penrith and the Eden Valley will be a lively exciting location for cyclists to visit and explore. The town and its surrounding villages will offer a range of cycling activities and services catering for a wide variety of cyclists and mountain bikers. Each summer the town will play host to several popular signature cycling events and for many a visit to the Penrith Cycle Hub and exploration by bike of the Eden Valley will be a ‘must do’ activity.

We are looking for experienced consultants who can help us achieve this vision by carrying out an initial feasibility study and preparing a delivery model for the project.

What we hope the project will create

• Signature cycle events.

The recent successes of the Cumberland Challenge Sportive and the Merida Mountain Bike Challenge, both with around 800 participants, demonstrate the appetite for this.

• Cycle focused café, bike hire, exhibition/events space in a unified location

There has been considerable discussion around the need for a single point of focus for visiting cyclists and both phases of the project will explore the possibility of this for future development

• Cycling package holidays

Despite there being a number of highly regarded cycling companies who have their offices in the area, in the main their products are offered for other destinations outside of the Cumbria and the Eden Valley. There is clearly an opportunity to work with the companies to offer local cycling packages.

• A wider range of cycling itineraries, linking with other offers in the area

EDC, CCC and Cumbria Tourism have together developed an excellent range of do-in-a-day cycle route leaflets for family and leisure cyclists, and there is opportunity to extend these to include other cycling sectors, including sport and enthusiast perhaps with the businesses themselves developing and promoting day or half day trips and guided rides stopping off at various attractions

• A greater integration of existing services
• A greater range of cycle friendly accommodation provision
• Modern application of technologies to ensure that information is conveyed to the consumer in a fast accessible mode via for instance, ‘apps’, geo-location, and other mobile technologies

Download Tender Documents

Deadline for tender submission: Midday, Wednesday 18th April 2012