---
title: "Let's Get Growing"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-064e00"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-064e00"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-064e00.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-064e00.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Planning"
buyer: "LEICESTER CITY COUNCIL"
published: "2026-02-11"
---

# Let's Get Growing

Buyer: LEICESTER CITY COUNCIL  
Current stage: Planning  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-064e00

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## Summary

Leicester City Council is currently in the planning phase of a procurement process for the Let's Get Growing service, aimed at fostering community food growing initiatives in Leicester. The council is conducting a soft market test, scheduled to conclude on 25th February 2026, to gather input from potential providers about the service model. This feedback is intended to shape the tender, expected to be announced in 2026, with the new contract commencing on 1st April 2027. The potential service, classified under community health services, plans to provide free gardening training and support out of various community venues across Leicester, including public and voluntary sector sites. The procurement process is anticipatory with an estimated contract value of 360,000 GBP and falls under the ‘services’ category.

The Let's Get Growing service presents significant growth opportunities for businesses specialising in horticulture, community health services, and training programmes. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and voluntary, community, and social enterprises (VCSEs) are particularly well-suited to bid for this tender. The project will offer these businesses a platform to showcase their expertise in community engagement and horticultural training while bolstering community resilience and cohesion. Companies with experience in organising and delivering outreach sessions in community settings are likely to thrive given the service’s emphasis on developing spaces through collaboration with local residents.

## Notice

Leicester City Council (LCC) is considering commissioning a Let's Get Growing service (LGG) for Leicester. It is anticipated, dependent upon an engagement exercise, that tenders for this service would be sought in 2026, to enable a new contract to begin from 01/04/2027, immediately after the end of our current contract providing 31/03/2027 services to Leicester. The LGG service will be to incentivise and develop community food growing groups and opportunities for residents, to create greater community cohesion, enabling groups to come together to develop their green spaces and bring nature to their local area. The proposed LGG service will provide free gardening training through courses and workshops to ultimately develop community gardening groups. The service delivery will be through outreach sessions at any community venues such as LCC owned community assets e.g. community centres, libraries, museums, leisure centres, schools or through VCSE organisations across the city e.g. faith groups, food hubs, or other accessible local spaces. The service will empower individuals, strengthen their resilience, give them the tools to increase their confidence, knowledge, and their skills to improve the green spaces around them. Sessions will be led by trained accredited horticultural staff with experience of developing community groups and delivering training programmes in the community.

### Planning Information

Leicester City Council (LCC) is is carrying out a Soft Market Test to gather feedback from potential providers on the proposed Let’s Get Growing service (LGG) for Leicester. It is anticipated, dependent upon an engagement exercise, that tenders for this service would be sought in 2026, to enable a new contract to begin from 01/04/2027, immediately after the end of our current contract providing 31/03/2027 services to Leicester.
As part of the commissioning process, the authority is undertaking a soft market test. This gives potential providers and other stakeholders the opportunity to express their interests and feed in their views about the potential service model and specification principles. The commissioners will use the information to appraise options and further develop the specification.
This process does not constitute a formal tender or other competitive bidding process and will not result in the letting of a Contract. The authority is using this process solely to test the market to gather information and ascertain the level of interest in this particular service. There are therefore no formal criteria which we will use to judge your responses and it is not our intention to provide any feedback.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/012462-2026 |
| Notice type | UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Not Specified |
| Procurement method details | Not specified |
| Tender suitability | SME, VCSE |
| Awardee scale | Not specified |
| All stages | Planning |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 11 Feb 2026 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | 15 Apr 2026 |
| Award date | Not specified |
| Contract period | 31 Mar 2027 - 30 Mar 2030 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | £300,000 |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Planning |
| Lots status | Planning |
| Awards status | Not specified |
| Contracts status | Not specified |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | LEICESTER CITY COUNCIL |
| Locality | LEICESTER |
| Post town | Leicester |
| Postcode | LE1 1FZ |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLF East Midlands (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLF2 Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire |
| ITL 3 | TLF21 Leicester |
| Local authority | Leicester |
| Electoral ward | Castle |
| Westminster constituency | Leicester South |
| Delivery location | TLF21 Leicester |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 85 - Health and social work services

### Codes

- 85323000 - Community health services

## Release History

- 11 Feb 2026 at 14:24 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/012462-2026

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/012462-2026
  11th February 2026 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender

## Notice URLs

- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents
- https://www.leicester.gov.uk

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-064e00. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-064e00.json.