Go Ape given go ahead (From Daily Echo)
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Eastleigh Borough Council give go ahead to Go Ape! at Itchen Valley Country Park
8:30am Tuesday 8th December 2009 in News
Go Ape Given the Go Ahead
COUNCIL chiefs last night approved plans for a Go Ape tree-top assault course in Southampton.
At midnight, after five hours of heated exchanges, councillors voted nine to two in favour of the application which will see thousands of residents swinging from the tree tops.
The proposal will now be rubber stamped by the Liberal Democrat controlled Eastleigh Borough Council with construction likely to start in the New Year.
Councillor Rupert Kyrle, chairman of the Hedge End, West End and Botley local area committee was happy with the decision.
Speaking after the result he said: "It's a very complex application but we fully explored the issues and had reference to all the information from our officers, great experts in their field.
"We listened to all the residents concerns and reached the right decision for our community."
Around 100 people packed the Hedge End 2000 Centre to hear a whether a tree-top assault course at the Itchen Valley Country Park would be given the go ahead.
Around ten campaigners put their concerns to councillors saying they believed the new high wire adventure course would cause problems to wildlife, traffic and most prominently noise levels in the park.
Objections were raised over excessive noise, threats to wildlife, and even possible problems with alcohol related disorder.
Margaret Raff, from Friends of the Itchen Valley Country Park, had taken councillors to nearby Lower Itchen Fisheries at the weekend in bid to shock them over the likely noise levels.
Margaret believed that the proposal had been decided long before tonight's meeting, speaking after the result she said: "The process was flawed from the start.
"The issue is, is Go Ape in the right place or not and the arguments tonight showed that Itchen Valley Country Park is not the right place.
"We won the argument but not the result."
Matt Johns, who complied an environmental impact report for Go Ape, earlier told the committee an adventure course would provide an opportunity for "inspiration, information and education".
Ben Davies, Business Development Manager for Go Ape was delighted with the committees decision, he said: "We are thrilled about opening Go Ape at Itchen Valley Country Park and look forward to working with the community to create a fantastic resource for the people of Southampton or Eastleigh."
Comments(17)
freemantlegirl2
says...
7:51am Tue 8 Dec 09
Anyway, I hope many families, young and old enjoy Go Ape, we will be it will be a great addition to the park ! :)
Sunny Saint
says...
8:46am Tue 8 Dec 09
At last common sense has prevailed over Nimbyism and the general kill-joy attitude of an obvious minorty.
Nuffsedd :-)
sotonwinch09
says...
8:57am Tue 8 Dec 09
WeirdoBoinky
says...
9:43am Tue 8 Dec 09
Objecting to an environmentally friendly activity like Go Ape, which encourages secondary use of a Country Park, is just middle-class nimby-ism gone mad. What is the point of a Country Park if you aren't goiing to encourage and incentivise people to use it!
Glad the councillors saw sense!
Family Man
says...
9:52am Tue 8 Dec 09
yummy_mummy
says...
10:21am Tue 8 Dec 09
"The issue is, is Go Ape in the right place or not and the arguments tonight showed that Itchen Valley Country Park is not the right place. We won the argument but not the result."
Clearly you didn't win the argument or Go-Ape wouldn't have been given the go ahead!
G0Rf
says...
11:04am Tue 8 Dec 09
sotonwinch09
says...
11:10am Tue 8 Dec 09
G0Rf wrote:What has that got to do with anything?
I THINK THEY SHOULD THINK ABOUT BUILDING A JUNCTION 6 ON THE M27 TO RELIEF THE EXTRA TRAFFIC!
MasterPuppet
says...
12:50pm Tue 8 Dec 09
A dedicated turn off for the county park, rather than having to come of at 5 and go through Eastleigh or past the airport, or come off at 7 and go through west end to get there, as people will have to do currently.
People will come form futher afield than just Eastleigh or Southampton.
SotonNorth
says...
1:38pm Tue 8 Dec 09
sotonwinch09
says...
2:21pm Tue 8 Dec 09
WeirdoBoinky
says...
2:45pm Tue 8 Dec 09
Those kind of numbers also won't exactly overload the Country Park, now, will it!
colliwobbles
says...
4:52pm Tue 8 Dec 09
kp387
says...
7:59pm Tue 8 Dec 09
concernedofstdenys
says...
1:25pm Fri 11 Dec 09
Anyway, presumably the reason the councillors went to the fishery Sunny Saint was that family fear losing their business. Whether they are right or wrong they deserve respect. They were not making their fears up, they felt them and if they are right then their business will suffer. It remains to be seen if they were founded or not. You would fight for a 50 year oldbusiness if it was you, wouldnt you? The 2 councillors who visit the fishery before voting agreed with them and voted against. Why did they vote against it? This shows that there was substance and that was recognised by most people in the room. Tranquillity is subjectve and the fact that the Fishery is a viable business shows that the clients currently dont mind the white noise of the motorway. Shouts are different, the 2 councillors experienced 2 people (apparently shouting their heads off to make a point) but it was not 84 people! The argument from Councillors Bloom that young people dont shout because its wimpy is bizarre. It may or may not damage the business but one thing the lady did not do is lie.
The Go Ape company have disseminated a lot of half truths. Its 14 per hour not half hour, from the documents. The max is 308 per day not the 30 per day that Go Ape say on their forum. Councillors parroted back 30.
As you are all so certain I suggest that before it opens you visit the park and take a walk to the river, stand on the bridge and enjoy the tranquillity. Then, you may still think on balance its a good idea. Fine but then you have to go back
when there are 308 people using it in summer. Go down to the bridge by the river and stand there and see the difference. You may still think it was fine to let one business thrive and one suffer but you will not be able to mock or deny the effect.
One thing I see so often in these forum is nasty knee jerk comment. The non NIMBY people posting against (myself, Jay and Robbo etc. ) have used reasoned argument and not nasty personal stuff.
concernedofstdenys
says...
11:13am Sat 12 Dec 09
Read www.saveitchenvalley
park.org.uk
The council found 2 inaccuracies in pages and pages. Both trivial. The company told people 30 people a day will go and it is 300 a day max. The councillors parroted 30 per day max! is that right? Is that trivial? The Wildlife Trust, the Woodland Trust, The Environment Agency, Natural England all objected and the council spent months on behalf of a private company convincing them to withdraw objections. They had to work pretty hard too but they threw all the resources and connnections of the council at it. Would your own private planning application get that support using public assets? Did the campaigners get that support? The councillors said they were neutral, my a***. Of course they werent and they shouldn't pretend to be, its insulting and makes you cringe. Its okay that they arent neutral as that is the point of leadership, but if it was such a harmless idea why did all the bodies object and keep objecting up to the wire? Dont just say its NIMBYism (120 objections, 200 petition and 100 supporting letters dont add up to just locals! ) Whether you wanted it or not, try and explain these things to yourselfl
TheLandlord says...
7:51am Tue 8 Dec 09