Summary of Extraordinary General Meeting

To facilitate a means of communication with the Forestry Commission, your Parish Council arranged an Extraordinary General Meeting on Friday February 29th with Mr. Bruce Rothnie from the Forestry Commission in attendance.

Some 300 residents and the BBC attended the meeting. It was very clear from the beginning that residents were against the proposal and when the question was asked as to who was for the proposal there was only a show of 2 hands.

Questions and concerns expressed were in the main surrounding the following:

• Environment - cutting down trees with no replacement. Keeping the area free from litter not only in the concert arena area but also on entrance roads from queuing cars.
• Potential Fire Hazard - illegal camping and possible use of barbecues.
• Noise - Sound levels required to entertain audiences of 5,000/7,000 with loss of decibels over 800 metres being minimal.
• Safety - The Verwood Road (B3081) has already been subject to 7 deaths
• Congestion - Concerts taking place during summer months with some 2000/3000 vehicles travelling to site accessing and egressing would exacerbate traffic that is already at its heaviest in these months on the A31, A338 and Horton roads.
• Nuisance Parking - With queues to access and egress there is a likelihood of parking in side roads and the taking of short cuts in via the many entrances into the area.
• Security - The site has numerous access points how can all of these be policed? With a cleared site and access available what is going to stop travellers setting up camp
• Control of behaviour - Who will cover the cost of any possible damage to residents' property particularly those properties backing onto the Castleman Trailway and who will bear the cost of using the Police if required?
• Number of Concerts: What is the guarantee that it will remain as only 2 concerts over one weekend per year when the Forestry Website already shows a number well in excess of this over the number of sites available.

There was, however, one resident who spoke-up in favour of the project, pointing out that revenue was required to support some already excellent facilities and to sustain the maintenance of the Forestry in general and that there was a need to keep some perspective with regard to the proposal.

Mr. Bruce Rothnie of the Forestry Commission listened to the views expressed by residents and answered a number of the questions.

At the close of the meeting residents requested the support of the Parish Council and their attendance at the licensing hearing when called for. This was put as a resolution before Parish Councillors present and the vote in favour was unanimous.

Please also see the following documents 2 of which are in pdf format for which you will need Adobe Reader you will need Adobe Reader. If you do not have it you can click here to download it for free

• Letter from Forestry Commission
• Questions and Answers from Forestry Commission version 2 as at 15 February
• Map of area

FORESTRY COMMISSION Contact Details
If you have any questions please contact:
Bruce Rothnie, Head of Recreation & Strategy, Forestry Commission, Queens House,High Street, Lyndhurst, Hants, SO43 7NH