Centenary Park, New Forest
How disappointing, first busy week of the autumn after the kids have gone to school, yet this site has pulled many good, usable pitches. This means members are squashed into the areas left open rather than having the choice of nice still well grassed pitches.
That is of course after one waits in a long queue to book in with just 1, yes 1 warden on reception. All this quality for £25 a night, hey ho. Where are the Wardens at such busy times, busy finding jobs to do rather than assisting members. When will the
club understand it needs to respond to commercial demand, why should members have to put up with 2nd rate standards
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How disappointing, first busy week of the autumn after the kids have gone to school, yet this site has pulled many good, usable pitches. This means members are squashed into the areas left open rather than having the choice of nice still well grassed pitches.
That is of course after one waits in a long queue to book in with just 1, yes 1 warden on reception. All this quality for £25 a night, hey ho. Where are the Wardens at such busy times, busy finding jobs to do rather than assisting members. When will the
club understand it needs to respond to commercial demand, why should members have to put up with 2nd rate standardsNever mind, W & J, enjoy the New Forest, beautiful area at this time of the year.
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Can one hope that one day we will get a positive post from SerialWhingersRus.
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I don't have any problem with folk being critical, however if I was so dissatisfied with what the CC offer, l would go elsewhere. They just seem to come back for more and more of the same bad service and unsatisfactory sites. Also have they not thought,
the grass pitches may have been pulled because they need time to recover, while the grass is still growing and to avoid damage as we move into autumn.0 -
A commercial site that we use regularly in the south west closes its most popular pitches (all pitches are grass) at the end of September, for re-seeding.
Beginning of September seems rather soon, especially if the site is still relatively busy.
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It does seem a bit early. However, Clumber park is also on very sandy soil and we have had low rainfall this year, has some badly damaged grass areas. Unless someone else who has been to the site recently can comment, we only have W&J's definition of still well grassed pitches to work on. I have certainly noticed sites retiring some grass pitches as early as this, often to aerate and reseed.
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We were there at the start of July, and the wardens were adding non awning pitch markers between the hard standings to make extra grass pitches, and opened up the additional grass area. I think it is a seasonal strategy rather than weather dependent, I
assume there is a start and end date set for when the additional grass pitches are made available to meet summer demand.0 -
W&J, there must be something you both like about club sites as you keep going back?
Did you talk to the wardens about your concerns, at a less busy time of course?
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If W&J had bothered to ask/speak to the wardens, they would have discovered that there is a Planning Condition in force that only allows the grass pitches to be open for a short space of time. Something to do with competion
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or replying....!
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If W&J had bothered to ask/speak to the wardens, they would have discovered that there is a Planning Condition in force that only allows the grass pitches to be open for a short space of time. Something to do with competion
Can you provide a link to the planning approval document that says that?
It would be a very unusual condition to place on a development, as it would restrict the number of visitors to the area - not something that councils normally want.
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If W&J had bothered to ask/speak to the wardens, they would have discovered that there is a Planning Condition in force that only allows the grass pitches to be open for a short space of time. Something to do with competion
Can you provide a link to the planning approval document that says that?
It would be a very unusual condition to place on a development, as it would restrict the number of visitors to the area - not something that councils normally want.
If you look on the New Forest Council planning application search page and put in the postcode of the site the information is there, you may have to dig around but I'm sure it will provide the information you need.
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If W&J had bothered to ask/speak to the wardens, they would have discovered that there is a Planning Condition in force that only allows the grass pitches to be open for a short space of time. Something to do with competion
Can you provide a link to the planning approval document that says that?
It would be a very unusual condition to place on a development, as it would restrict the number of visitors to the area - not something that councils normally want.
If you look on the New Forest Council planning application search page and put in the postcode of the site the information is there, you may have to dig around but I'm sure it will provide the information you need.
I just looked (it was delegated to the New Forest National Park planning authority, apparantly).
The CC applied in 2009 to have a restriction lifted on the numbers of caravans allowed and were granted this.
They are now allowed 275 units during the peak season (July, August, Easter, early May and Spring Bank Hol weekends) i.e. the full capacity of the site.
At other times they are restricted to 200 units (which would be the 125 hardstandings plus 75 grass pitches, presumably).
If anyone wants to have a read it's here
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I suppose the question is.......are they in fact using the 75 grass pitches that they are allowed to use?
Might that depend on the condition of the pitches? I have been on a few sites in September where the grass pitches have been badly worn. Perhaps the OP might help us here? He did say that in his opinion many where useable but not what percentage.
David
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With only half of grass ones being available, wardens should be able to rotate usage to recover the ravages of 'high season'.
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We stayed at the lovely Black Knowl site recently and I must say that some of the grass pitches were in need of a rest.
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