RE: Castle Combe attacked by local council

[andy_b]

Had a relpy from one councillor who says he's recieved 60 emails. ONLY 60!!!! Thats pathetic. Its pluged on Ten-Tenths and SEATCupra.net as well as here

Come on everyone. Even the letter is written for you earlier in this thread along with email addresses. Ever been to see a race anywhere, a trackday perhaps or even competed. Well you owe it to the motorsport industry to support this. Once one circuit has trouble with this, then they all will.

[KITT]

My effort:

KITT said:

Dear Sir/Madam, I am writing to you as a group to ensure you are aware of the Noise Nuisance Order that has been issued to Castle Combe Circuit and to ask you to vote to instruct your officers to withdraw this notice. I am a regular user of the circuit for both spectating and driving. I also run the South West Tiger Owner's club (www.swtoc.co.uk) which this year has a number of meetings planned around events taking place at Castle Combe. I was also planning on attending the GT races with a number of friends this year. I wish to draw to your attention the following points: - Castle Combe Circuit has held races since 1950. If any of the residents complaining have not been living near the circuit since 1950, then I believe they do not have a case. - The events that are being banned total less than 6 hours worth of noise each time they are run. If local people can honestly say this is a nuisance then I think they should consider going out for the few hours these races are on each year. - Noise restrictions at Castle Combe are rigidly enforced. My car often struggles to stay under their limits. However, there is nothing stopping me driving through any of the local villages with my car making twice as much noise and still be legal! - The amount of revenue the banned events bring to the local area totals £10,000,000, and this is by council's calculations. This would be a serious mistake to deprive local businesses of this extra income. I do think that enforcing this nuisance order will be detrimental to the local economy and rob a number of enthusiasts of our local circuit. I urge you to withdraw this order to help protect Castle Combe's future as a world class motorsports event. regards Matthew Dearden

Got 2 replies so far one of which is a little alarming:

Cllr Steve Walls said:

I must apologise that this is a circular and not personal letter. There have been a very impressive number of emails and letter concerning this matter and I could not reply to them all. I declare an interest as someone who has attended and enjoyed racing at Castle Combe. The importance to the economy of the area is accepted and also the importance to motor racing. I hope a solution can be found. When a local authority receives a complaint about noise or any other environmental matter, it must investigate. These investigations revealed a dB level of 118 on formula 3 days compared with 108db on normal race days. I have been told the noise increase makes the sound appear twice as load. The Environmental Health team of the council investigated and were not satisfied with the noise monitoring at the circuit and believed it was not in accordance with RAC regulations. To cut a long story short, it is now for the courts to decide and the Council cannot withdraw the notice. I would fully support the Castle Combe Circuit in organising and running their race days, which as you have all rightly pointed out has been part of Wiltshire for 50 years. I would not support local residents who were being unreasonable. Anyone moving into the area must accept that Castle Combe circuit with its noise and traffic a few days a year. The Council is not wishing to stop racing at the circuit but for noise to be controlled and believe the circuit management could manage that. I hope that an amicable solution can be reached. You may not find this very helpful but if the circuit owners and race day organisers see that there is good will towards them from councillors and council officers who will work with them to find a solution. Cllr Steve Walls

Sound's like there's little we can do now and Castle Combe will be dragged through the courts to resolve this matter

Is there not a petition we can create to help enforce their case?

>> Edited by KITT on Tuesday 8th March 09:18

[sparky11]

Don't particularly want to fill the thread with replies, but got this through this morning:

Mark,

Thank you for your email regarding Castle Coombe Racing Circuit. Yours is one of over 60 emails and 3 letters I have recieved all saying exactly the same thing. I apologise for any delay in replying which is due to volume of correspondence I have recieved.

I actually agree with the points raised by the supporters of the track and will certainly vote against any noise nuisance order that comes before me in my role as a Councillor. Obviously I am only one voice out of 53 so cannot guarantee success but I will do my part.

I hope that you will continue to be part of the racing community at Castle Coombe and I hope that this issue gets resolved with a satisfactory result for the circuit.

Best wishes,

Simon Coy

Seems a bit odd that a fair majority of the councillors appear to be against it, yet the minority vote appears to carry?

I guess thats the beauty of democracy.....

Sparky

[miniman]

sparky11 said:

Seems a bit odd that a fair majority of the councillors appear to be against it, yet the minority vote appears to carry?

My understanding is that the councillors never got the opportunity to vote - it was just put through by the noise police.

[remal]

Just e-mailed my letter. just hope it helps support castle combe

To whom it may concern

I am writing to you to ensure you are aware of the Noise Nuisance Order that has been issued to Castle Combe Circuit and ask you to instruct your officers to withdraw this notice. Please.

I am a regular user of the circuit for both spectating and driving. I was also planning on attending the GT races
with a number of friends this year, and looking forward to tackdays and so on as well

I wish to draw to your attention the following points:

I understand that residents who have lived at castle combe siince before 1950 have a reasnoble reason to bring this Noise Nuisance Order forward as they would have been living int he area before the circuit was built. But for people who have moved in to the area knowing their was a racing circuit close by should not have any good reason to make this complant.


- The amount of revenue the banned events bring to the local area
totals £10,000,000, and this is by council's calculations.Do you really think this is a good reason to loose all this income to the local area. as well as the all the thousands of people who ehjoy watching racing their for a long time.


I do think that enforcing this nuisance order will be detrimental to
the local economy and rob a number of enthusiasts of our local
circuit.

I plead with younot to enfore this Noise Nuisance Order as it is our only local racing circuit and I have been a regular for many years.





>> Edited by remal on Wednesday 9th March 17:13

[burwoodman]

It's a simple case of some sour old scrote slipping this one through. A classic "the hell with the impact-the law is the law".

I'd like to know exactly who supported this one. A few drive byes might be in order

>> Edited by burwoodman on Wednesday 9th March 17:53

[sparky11]

Bit of an update:

A friend of mine is editor of the Wiltshire Times (its good to have friends in high places...) and this week I spoke to a journalist from one of thier 'group' papers - the Chippenham Gazette. Result being, its made the front page of this weeks edition!

Hopefully this will bring the problem into a wider audience. Depending on response it may well graduate to the bigger South West papers in time.

It would be great if we could get this overturned.

Mark

[miniman]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/4388217.stm

[flat16]

It seems I was one of the last to hear about this worrying news when I came across a petition today:

www.petitiononline.com/306007/petition.html

I trust members will do their duty!

Over 5,000 have signed so far.

[pedantry]It would help if the petition header was spelt / punctuated correctly..[/pedantry]

[ultimasimon]

Signed 5,339

[turbobloke]

Over 5,400 already, well done PHers

[MooSchmoo]

Signed ... 5417!

[dr strangelove]

Don said:

THIS IS AWFUL! I am a regular visitor to Castle Combe for trackdays and racedays and I haven't missed its F3/GT meeting in years. Frerkring Council! How can they possibly object to a bit of noise one or two weekends in the year that's over by 6:00pm, doesn't start until after 9:00am - and is a TRADITION going back FIFTY YEARS! I am incensed!

Save your anger my friend, this is the shape of things to come, the liberal control freaks (how ironic), are on the march, they have a prevailing wind behind them, which means that there will be plenty of battles before they formally declare war on all things 'individualistic' and 'self-determining'. Their clarion call will be 'silence for all' until spoken to... by them, and only them.

[caro]

Signed! 6066. I truly hope this small minded attack on one of my favourite circuits fails.

[OverBoost]

had a great day saturday nice racing apart from the orange corsa flipping lol

[miniman]

Latest in the local press is as follows:

Howard Strawford, the circuit owner, has negotiated a reduction in noise for the F3 / GT cars for next year from, IIRC, 118dbA to 114dbA which I believe actually equates to a 50% reduction in actual noise. Howard has now approached the council to demand that they lift the order until such time as they have been able to asses the ACTUAL noise (i.e. sometime in mid-late 2005) on the basis that they cannot legitimately enforce an order when the actual noise is an unknown quantity.

Also, announced at the track on Saturday, a CC supporters club has been set up due to the huge volume of support for the circuit over the last few weeks.

[miniman]

OverBoost said:

had a great day saturday nice racing apart from the orange corsa flipping lol

Yep - was a good day. Did you see the Radical (or similar) go head on into the tyres at the entrance to the pit lane? BIG smash. We grabbed the fire extinguishers and legged it over, expecting to pull out a seriously battered driver. But by the time we got half way to the car, he'd jumped out, sworn at the car a lot, and jumped over the armco. Lucky escape. He said he tried steering left and right but the car decided straight on was the only thing it was doing.

[cptsideways]

May I suggest that Castle Coombe applies for a few planning applications.


Regional Incenerator Plant
Animal Carcass Rendering Plant
Abbatoir
Cattle Market
Turkey Farm (they really stink!)
Extension to the countries Airport Infrastructure
Chemical Factory
Wind Farm
Immigration Detention Facilities
Prison
Housing Estate
A new town all together with all the above included

Then see how the NIMBY's react

[cptsideways]

Anyone know any developers?

You don't have to own land to apply for planning on it