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Little England....

8K views 19 replies 9 participants last post by  Noel157 
#1 · (Edited)
Little England...

Apologies to any English members (well, not really..).

As some may know the ability to close public roads was brought into English law recently. Based on this organisers have announced that they are hoping to be the first to take advantage and are planning a rally next year around the roads of Tendering in Essex. Great for local business and raising the profile of the area. But not everybody is backing the idea and local councillor Mike Bush (UKIP) says : roads are unsuitable, there is a health and safety issue and, get this, the speed limit will be ignored. Indeed some bloke from a local parish council is going to write in....and "different people" have objected.
Granted, I'm not that familiar with the area bit a quick look on Street View shows that there are plenty of roads that look good, here's one:



I suspect the local politician/s and a few constituents know little about the sport......although nonsense like this isn't helping even if there is a street stage:






http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/monaco-style-car-race-could-be-on-its-way-to-tendring-1-4970762

Will be interesting to see if the MSA approve the route when they inspect it in a few weeks. Certainly closed roads may inconvenience some.

More from a local paper:

FURIOUS residents want to put the brakes on a 120 car rally claiming tiny village roads are "completely unsuitable" for the event.

The Motor Sports Association is set to carry out a review of proposals for a rally around Tendring on April 22 next year.

Tendring Council tourism boss Tanya Ferguson said that if Tendring manages to bring the rally to the district it would be a major coup and that it is expected to boost the local economy by around £500,000 and bring thousands of visitors and motor sport fans into the area.

“It would be the first event anywhere in the country under the new legislation and it will have significant financial benefits to the area and its businesses,” she said.

But Mike Bush, Tendring councillor for Little and Great Oakley, said villagers are "up in arms" over the event, which would see cars racing through rural roads including Great Bromley, Lawford, Stones Green, Great Oakley and Wix.

"They are looking to close the roads for 13 hours - the farms work on Sundays," he added.

"I've had objections come in from different people and the chairman of Great Oakley Parish Council is writing in.

"Tanya Ferguson is behind it and maybe it would be great for business, but the impact it will have on the residents is phenomenal.

"Why are they coming here?

"The roads are totally unsuitable to stage this event, which will impose a huge health and safety risk to the public, residents and spectators alike, as well as wildlife, cyclists and horseriders that will be affected.

"It is intended to lift the speed limit whilst during the event, further increasing the risk of danger to people, property and potential damage to the roads on route.

"There is also the impact and disruption for small business and farm traffic that operate all over the weekend."

Once the MSA has completed its review, final authorisation for a stage rally will need to come from Essex County Council.

Talks about staging the event have been ongoing for years, but it was only made possible after enabling legislation was passed earlier this year which allows local authorities to suspend the Road Traffic Act for authorised events.

Nigel Brown, Tendring Council’s communications manager, said that there is a long process still to be completed if the stage rally is to take place in Tendring.

“The Motor Sport Association has to carry out its assessments and if those are positive - and the event gets to Essex County Council as highway authority for a decision on the road closure order - then there will be a period of public consultation,” he said.

“That will give everyone the chance to be heard, and that will be the best and most appropriate time for people to have their say. Their views will be taken into account as part of the consultation exercise.”
 
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#2 ·
Hi Noel, as you know I'm a Corkman but living in Essex at the moment.
I am not too familiar with the Tendring area but will have a look around and ask a few questions to some lads I know in the motor club. They are more used racing around airfields and tracks as they can't close the roads and to be honest the tarmac scene here is pretty ****.
 
#4 ·
I fear events like this are going to find lots of opposition; far too many NIMBYS around nowadays. I wish the organisers well, and hope other events can go forward, but I fear it's all too late. The 'closed roads' issue should have been dealt with 30-40 years ago. I'm not sure the MSA have been proactive enough on this.
 
#9 ·
Did I read correctly that tyres marked 'For Racing purposes only' will not be permitted?
Also if they don't want to alienate the locals; they are taking the stages through a few villages around east Essex?

For sure it will be a great spectacle if the locals embrace it! That would make a success of the event to win over the nimbys and take the sport out of the tracks and airfields.
 
#10 · (Edited)
The road closures are listed here:
https://portal.roadworks.org/downloads/tm/na-has-made-notice-104426132-3087505.pdf

https://roadworks.org/ shows the closures and clearways on a map if you set the date to 22nd April.

From some of the village Facebook pages it seems the majority of the locals support the event. There are a couple of vocal protesters, but few agree with them.

The Council published this last week:
https://tendringdc.gov.uk/council/news-pr/news-listing/rally-event-will-bring-boost-district

The MSA stopped us using circuit racing slicks on stage rallies about 20 years ago with the "For Racing purposes only will not be permitted". That is a rule from section L3.5 in the blue book.
Rally tyres with "competition purposes only" are OK.
 
#11 · (Edited)
From what I can see a local resident made a FOI request to the local council regarding the rally (sponsored by Corbeau) and this came up, fair play to the organisers having to deal with this sort of thing:

Letter to the local paper who were publicising the event-

https://tendringdc.gov.uk/sites/def...otection/logs/Attachment 2 to FOI 67 2018.pdf



And poor Marty Brady has made a new friend....from the same local paper:



Incidentally Nicky Moffit was one of the MSA staff who inspected the route.
 
#12 · (Edited)
Full 120 car entry and 10 WRC cars...residents can get out 2/3 times a day but.....

Totally agree!! I hope this is stopped before it starts, these events are dangerous at best why should the people who have chose to live in the countryside have to put up with mindless idiots ragging the s**t out of suped up boy racer cars yards from their properties, if you want to race your jalopies go to a track or find an area that doesn't affect property owners who certainly don't want this petrol head invasion
Comments are interesting, why can't they just look at the bigger picture...or clear off for the day:

Surely there must be an abandoned airfield they can use instead. Or at least somewhere a bit closer to Chelmsford! If this goes ahead, the matter should be turned over to the authorities to see whether there are grounds for charging the organisers with falsely imprisoning the victims.
http://www.clactonandfrintongazette...s-in-last-ditch-bid-to-stop-car-rally/?ref=ar
 
#15 ·
Marshalled today was on a footpath and everyone loved the rally and the idea of it. I was about a mile away form a village and when they walked on over they loved car 1 until car 120.

The drivers kept saying how many people were out on the road sections.

I was surprised by it all and this will make it easier for more closed road rallying in England.

Well done tonym.
 
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