Consultations: Have your Say

The Parish Council would like to invite you to respond to the following consultations:

Proposed Hills Ford Stages Closed Road Rally, September 2024

A closed road Hills Ford Stages rally is being organised for the weekend of the 14th and 15th September, although our parish will only be affected on Sunday 15th.  The route currently proposed passes into Fownhope parish from Brockhampton on Capler Lane. 

The rally is currently in the consultation stage and the Parish Council is being asked for their urgent feedback on whether or not the community wishes to support the event and the proposed route.  Results from the consultation will feed back to Herefordshire Council who will ultimately decide whether or not the rally can go ahead.  We must feedback by Wednesday next week, so please submit your views either by email or by completing the survey at the bottom of this newsletter before the end of Tuesday 27th February.

Who's running the event?
The event is run by Hills Ford Stages in partnership with Cheltenham Motor Club (a not-for-profit charitable organisation) and will start on the afternoon of Saturday 14th September with a ceremonial start in Ledbury, followed by a short first stage race on Castlemorton Common. Find out more here: https://hillsfordstages.co.uk/

The main event will be held on Sunday 15th September with stages 3, 4, 5 and 6 in the morning, which are then run again as stages 7, 8, 9 and 10 in the afternoon.  The day will usually start around 8am and finish around 6pm.  It is stages 5 and 9 which will run through Fownhope.

Where will they go?
Although the exact route will not be officially released until a few days before the event, we understand that stage 5 starts at Perrystone and enters Fownhope parish from Brockhampton on Capler Lane (repeated as stage 9).  The stage will finish further along Capler Lane, and then all traffic will continue down Capler Lane, turning left onto the B4224 to pass through the village under normal road speeds and then right onto Woolhope Road.  The final stage of the rally will begin in Woolhope.

Which roads will be closed and can I get through?
Roads within each stage will be closed to all traffic during rally times but residents will be allowed access at all other times.  Essentially this means that Capler Lane will be closed for approximately 3.5 hours in the morning and around 2.5-3 hours in the afternoon.  It has been made clear that the B4224 will not be closed at any point during the rally. 

How safe is it?
The event runs to strict safety requirements regarding trained senior officials, marshal competence and numbers, recovery vehicles and rescue vehicles / doctors / paramedics. More information can be found on the Hils For Stages website https://hillsfordstages.co.uk/

What type of cars will be rallying?
The rally cars are varied in type and age – from historic cars such as Minis and Ford Escorts to modern four-wheel drive purpose-built vehicles. They can be run by professional teams or enthusiastic amateurs but are all road legal cars that are carefully scrutinised for safety before starting each event.

The route will comprise several stages over which the timed competition takes place, linked by open to all road sections where the normal rules of the road must be obeyed. The main overall commander monitors every car from the Command Centre, located in Much Marcle, and heavily penalises the driver if they do not stick to the speeds.

Communicating with communities:
The organisers are keen to ensure they communicate effectively and efficiently with residents, businesses and the wider community and to kick this off they hosted a public meeting in Fownhope on Monday 19th February.  A further meeting is planned for 2nd March at Ledbury Town Council Offices, Jacobean Room from 14.30 - 18.00. As plans develop, they will reach out further but, in the meantime, can be contacted by email on info@hillsfordstages.co.uk

What are the Environmental Impacts of the Rally?
During the meeting, Parish Councillors and Parishioners raised concerns about the principle of motorsport within a parish that has declared a climate emergency.  The organisers acknowledged that motorsports clearly have an impact on carbon emissions but were able to highlight their commitment to the environment and their carbon footprint recovery for the travel and mileage element of the event.  More information about how they take responsibility for their carbon footprint can be found on their website here:  https://hillsfordstages.co.uk/carbon-responsibility/.  They expressed an aim to not only become carbon neutral but to reach a point where they are giving back more to environmental and carbon offsetting projects than they use. 

What are the benefits to the Parish?
Each parish will receive a donation from the event to put towards a project of our choice.  It may be that we choose to support a local environmental project to further offset carbon, or something else, but this will be a consultation further down the line.  It may be worth noting that the rally will go ahead somewhere, if not in Fownhope or indeed Herefordshire.   

What happens next?
For the moment, the Parish Council have been asked to respond to the consultation on whether there is local support for the rally to run as proposed through the village.  In order to do this, we are asking for parishioner's feedback on the proposed event.  Therefore, we would like to ask you to please complete the following survey: Proposed Closed Road Rally Survey 

The survey is a straight yes or no response.  If you wish to submit additional comments, please email me on clerk@fownhopeparishcouncil.gov.uk

Please email the Clerk at clerk@fownhopeparishcouncil.gov.uk or telephone 07989 066782 (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday during office hours preferred).