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Racetrack plan shatters quiet life in France...


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Unsure as to the relevance of "wealthy Oxford graduate" being behind the scheme but it least it proves that class matters, at least in the eyes of the Times.

Be grateful Clair it's 200 km away.

NIMBY ? moi?

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We had a somewhat similar situation around Chichester with the revival of the Goodwood racetrack.

After several years of wrangles with local committees and the planning departments, Goodwood Racetrack meetings have become part of the Classic Car calendar.The track owners have had to install several noise and air pollution monitoring systems and they are only allowed to have a limited number of track days in the year.

Having had to work on the edge of the race track for several years, I can categorically say that the light aircraft and helicopter wannabe pilots practising their take-off and landing manoeuvres were considerably noisier than the cars racing round!

However, unlike Goodwood, the track and associated businesses under discussion are being newly created.

Also, bearing in mind the usually very poor traffic organisation for local and regional events, I would not fancy this particular track on my doorstep...
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I read recently that Brands Hatch had made an agreement with local residents (all of the houses affected having been built 20 years after the racetrack), and in that the restriction of helicopter and light aircraft movements was the most important part.

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I live within listening distance of the race track at Castle Donington which I knew was there when I bought my house. Frankly, the race and practice days aren't a real problem, it's not as though they are racing every day and the police have the traffic well-organised.

As I see it the more likely problem for the people living near this proposed track would be the ancillaries. Obviously investors want the maximum possible return on their investment and so use their facilities as much as possible. The track at Donington has all sorts of other events such as antiques fairs and ideal home exhibition types of things as well as a regular Sunday market. If this happens at the propsoed site it will change the nature of their area into something different from what they bargained for.

Hoddy

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[quote user="Dick Smith"]Quite. I get a bit fed up with the people who buy houses next to circuits and then expect the circuit to be closed down to suit them.[/quote]

I agree, however, this race track would be brand new to the area and I can understand the concerns of the locals.

Traffic at public events in France is not quite as well policed and organised as it is in England and anyone who has attended races (at Le Mans for instance) knows of the frustrations and restrictions locals have to endure...

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[quote user="Hoddy"]I live within listening distance of the race track at Castle Donington which I knew was there when I bought my house. Frankly, the race and practice days aren't a real problem, it's not as though they are racing every day and the police have the traffic well-organised. As I see it the more likely problem for the people living near this proposed track would be the ancillaries. Obviously investors want the maximum possible return on their investment and so use their facilities as much as possible. The track at Donington has all sorts of other events such as antiques fairs and ideal home exhibition types of things as well as a regular Sunday market. If this happens at the propsoed site it will change the nature of their area into something different from what they bargained for. Hoddy[/quote]

 

I would think the airport more of a problem for you, than the race track.

                                                                                                           Nest-pas

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[quote user="Dick Smith"]Quite.

I get a bit fed up with the people who buy houses next to circuits and then expect the circuit to be closed down to suit them.
[/quote]

The circut is not up and runnning yet, so the people you get a bit fed up with, Don't exist....

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Oh Clair, thanks for the warning.  I now know which area to avoid as I go about my househunting.

The very thought of the track is horrible and, making no apologies for my own in-built prejudices, the people look horrible as well![:-))]

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[quote user="sweet 17"]

The very thought of the track is horrible and, making no apologies for my own in-built prejudices, the people look horrible as well![:-))]

[/quote]

The Booker-Careys are friends of mine, and they are very very nice people! The idea for the track was actually to use an area destroyed by a storm and bring some very much needed commerce into an area slowly dying. The plans include much much more than just a track (not for racing, and not for racing cars par se, which would be silenced), so just ignore the hotel, the equistrian centre, health spa etc etc, and that 90% of the staff will be locals, who are desperate for work

Oh and ignore the fact that 90% of the objectors are ex pat Brit's, not the local French, and of those, 75% moved there AFTER the plans were announced................................

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Oops, sorry!  Perhaps I shouldn't have been so quick to jump to conclusions. 

I did just think that if a race track was being built near me, I'd be cross as hell!

Mind you, I think the departmental road just outside our house, is a race track at times.  At least, the traffic doesn't half go at a lick day and night.

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[quote user="ErnieY"][quote user="cooperlola"]Some of us would pay good money to have a circuit on our doorstep.[:D][/quote]Some did didn't they [;-)][/quote]Yup, and I'd happily move onto the Mulsanne straight if I could find the right house.

'Ere, Sweet 17, we petrolheads are lovely people.  And only noisy for 24 hours, not all the time....

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[quote user="f1steveuk"][quote user="sweet 17"]

The very thought of the track is horrible and, making no apologies for my own in-built prejudices, the people look horrible as well![:-))]

[/quote]

The Booker-Careys are friends of mine, and they are very very nice people! The idea for the track was actually to use an area destroyed by a storm and bring some very much needed commerce into an area slowly dying. The plans include much much more than just a track (not for racing, and not for racing cars par se, which would be silenced), so just ignore the hotel, the equistrian centre, health spa etc etc, and that 90% of the staff will be locals, who are desperate for work

Oh and ignore the fact that 90% of the objectors are ex pat Brit's, not the local French, and of those, 75% moved there AFTER the plans were announced................................

[/quote]

Friends you say,we all have friends.and also close neighbours.and that you are not to the Booker-Careys

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You're going to have to explain that one! Because I don't live 16 inches from there back door I can't know them? I really don't understand your inference. 99.999 % of the people complaining about the proposal haven't even read ALL of the information on the proposal, let alone spoken to those actually involved, and are more than happy to prefer assumption to knowledge, but if you don't know what your talking about, it's better to shut up....................

I will just throw this into the mix. What a lot of the carping Brits don't know is that they "assume" David and Sandra are just sitting in retirement spending their money on a new toy. What they don't KNOW is that they run a company, in France, that employs French people and it is the money from this they are trying to put back into the French system, still, best not to look further than the end of our own gardens or worse still noses..................

And if the circuit was to be near me, I wouldn't have a problem, much the same as I don't about the airfield near me, that I knew was there BEFORE I moved here.

What p#**+s me off is when someone actually tries to put something back, and help the community they have moved into, we whinge, yet I know of one town where the Brit's whinged until they were allowed a cricket field, and now wont let the French play on it. Yes I am a petrolhead, I like my cars, my motorbikes etc etc, and I understand that there are those that dont feel the same, what I will not do is try and inflict MY interests on to others. What the Brooker-Careys ARE doing, is working with the local community, to ensure the proposal includes education, employment and allowing for other interests (horses, bird watching, fishing etc etc) to be developed.

As you don't know me, or my background, or anything about me I'd rather you kept to the subject, and research you comments rather than spouting!

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You lecture others to research the subject before spouting forth. I'd like to know where you get the statistic that 90% of the objectors are ex-pat brits and that 75% of them have moved into the area since the plans were announced. Is this fact or exaggeration? If it's fact then the past 4 years have obviously been something of a boom time for house vendors and artisans in a supposedly economically depressed area. The Telegraph article mentioned 500 protestors arriving in Nontron about the proposals and that these were both French and Brit. I think your observation that objectors are 90% Brits is likely to be somewhat inaccurate.

You also talk of there being employment that will be 90% local people. How exactly, within the EU, is this going to be managed? I'd be most surprised if that turned out to be actually the case. Another 'statistic' ... 99.999% of the people complaining about the proposal haven't read all the information. Let's assume that too is a bit OTT percentage-wise. Even if it were correct, why should people need to read all the info before their view can be valid? Some might simply wish to preserve 40 hectares of woodland, full stop. Their right to object on this ground alone is just as valid as your obvious support. The right to object, on whatever grounds, to a planning application is democracy. It may even be true that the motives of the Brits objecting are based on nimbyism and conserving the status quo. That's the way the system works. If non-Brit locals support the application, then I'm sure it'll carry much weight if they pass these thoughts on. If they don't voice their support then that's the price they will possibly pay for apathy.

You talk of the couple's motives being to put something back into the system. So why then put something back which appears to divide opinion (and which happens to be a personal interest too, by chance!) Why not invest in a less disruptive venture that would employ just as many people? There must be plenty of alternatives. Why not consult with local people in advance and let them choose, if the motive of the couple is purely to be benefactors? The proposal has to be judged on its merits. The source of the funding is not really relevant.

Being a demi-petrol head myself, I'm probably a bit neutral (I don't live near anyway). But I think that your comments seem to be as one-sided as your view of the motives of the objectors.

 

 

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I don't have the official figures. According to the last census (1999), there were about 2000 in employment in Nontron. Assuming 15% unemployment, I suppose it could be argued that it could reduce unemployment by 12%. But this assumes too that the 35 would all be local, and previously unemployed. I suppose if you're one of the unfortunate unemployed, any possibility of jobs, no matter how few, is important.

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Darnsarf

Have you considered all the increase in activity, economic as well as in other spheres?

The people whose nerves are shattered by the noise and have to seek medical or psychiatric advice

The prescriptions for related conditions

The sale of ear plugs

The people moving out of the area, generating work for estate agents, removal companies, etc

And so on and so on.......

Wish people would spell out all the beneficial changes properly and not just toss off a figure of 35 jobs as though that was all that could be expected from the race track.[:)]

 

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