Glad to hear you’re going to be ok.
Camping in the forest closure email
- Thread starter Nikki
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- Apr 19, 2008
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Same here, the reason why i booked 6th July as totaly independant not having to rely on any Warden assistance.
- Jan 11, 2018
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An old record now I know, Setthornes in particular is easy to do Social Distancing. Love staying there.
There are other factors at work here methinks.
There are other factors at work here methinks.
Very disappointing to have a 4 July New Forest booking cancelled so late when it is more difficult to find alternatives. I am guessing the recent behaviour at Bournemouth is also affecting the Forest and they need all their staff available to stop the morons from burning it down and to clear up after them. The sooner they can pack them in aluminium tubes to be ant-social somewhere that doesn’t affect me the happier I will be.
- Apr 19, 2008
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Agreed but how does one seek out the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth from the bureaucratic system.
The definition of a bureaucrat is a person with an official position , or a term used to describe someone in a position of power who is more concerned with procedure or policy than with people's needs. ... A manager overly concerned with power and procedure instead of people is an example of a bureaucrat.
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- Dec 17, 2019
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We live local to the New Forest and use these sites a lot. It’s a real shame.
However I don’t blame them, after the idiots that recently descended on Bournemouth.
The beauty of their sites is that they are not regimented, so distancing is voluntary.
in these times that will be really hard to police and unfair on the staff.
In a normal year at peak times it can get very crowded with campers grouping together in clusters.
There are other sites open, that have got better laid out sites.
However I don’t blame them, after the idiots that recently descended on Bournemouth.
The beauty of their sites is that they are not regimented, so distancing is voluntary.
in these times that will be really hard to police and unfair on the staff.
In a normal year at peak times it can get very crowded with campers grouping together in clusters.
There are other sites open, that have got better laid out sites.
Have people who have just booked received their refunds?
OldWomble
Free Member
That’s over 4000 pitches lost. So much for encouraging staycations this year! That will be thousands going to France now I bet. French gain, UK loses 
Langtoftlad
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- Apr 12, 2011
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Yes
Kannon Fodda
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- Feb 26, 2019
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Haven't got my refund yet having booked last December for end August 
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- Feb 24, 2013
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Oddly I have had one of three bookings refunded today
- Apr 19, 2008
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I see Job advertised , interesting of the licence needs bit. Are they expecting trouble.
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Forestry Commission England Broken Link Removed
New Forest
£28,123 - £29,863 a year
A qualification in wildlife or conservation land management, such as a BTEC National Diploma, a BTEC HND or a BSc degree or significant and equivalent experience in a wildlife or conservation land management role.
Licences
A Current Police Firearms Certificate
Qualifications
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Forestry Commission England Broken Link Removed
New Forest
£28,123 - £29,863 a year
- Free parking at Forestry Commission sites and free entry to forestry arboretum.
- Undertake deer management and control of other mammals to protect tree…
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A qualification in wildlife or conservation land management, such as a BTEC National Diploma, a BTEC HND or a BSc degree or significant and equivalent experience in a wildlife or conservation land management role.
Licences
A Current Police Firearms Certificate
Qualifications
Whilst rowdy visitors would be covered by “other mammals” I suspect the firearms certificate is required for deer culling. Deer are very naughty when it comes to social distancing. 
RowleyBirkinQC
LIFE MEMBER
Still awaiting refund for 2 bookings, guess they have loads to process...
We have had our refund, a few days after receiving the email. The banks can take up to 5 working days to process refunds.
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Emmit
LIFE MEMBER
"The C&CC actually own over 70% of CITF, don't know who owns the rest. It appears with the restrictions the Gov put in it just wasn't possible to open and adhere to those restrictions???? "
Therein lies the answer.
The Bean Counters at 'The Club'??? have deemed that they (CITF) is counter productive to their 'Club'??? Business model.
Therein lies the answer.
The Bean Counters at 'The Club'??? have deemed that they (CITF) is counter productive to their 'Club'??? Business model.
The sites are owned by the Forest authorities but leased to CITF. They were part of the original joint venture so very likely still have a say in what goes on.
glenn2926
Free Member
Maybe they’re frightened of opening after seeing what happened down that way on the beaches. I personally won’t be going down south this year after seeing that. It’s just too crowded down there. I just hope that the ones who normally go to the new forest don’t all decide to come North.
I must admit I very rarely go south other than for the tunnel so maybe haven’t given it a chance. I prefer places where there are fewer people about.
I do think though that the owners have seen how the people down there behaved on the beaches and don’t want anything to do with that type of behaviour.
I can’t really see another way round the over crowding problem down there other than taking the decision they have. Which is to remain closed.
I must admit I very rarely go south other than for the tunnel so maybe haven’t given it a chance. I prefer places where there are fewer people about.
I do think though that the owners have seen how the people down there behaved on the beaches and don’t want anything to do with that type of behaviour.
I can’t really see another way round the over crowding problem down there other than taking the decision they have. Which is to remain closed.
Kannon Fodda
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- Feb 26, 2019
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Companies House records, which are public on their website, show accounts, directors and stuff. Last filed accounts for the year of 2018 show that CITF is a joint ownership of Forestry Commision and Camping and Caravan Club.
Given the statements of Forestry England, on their website and repeated in many media articles, that they are unhappy about the closure and want a rethink it is the C&CC side , i.e. the operator side, that pulled the plug. Whilst it Forestry England don't want the headache of running the sites themselves, hence the partnership arrangement, you do wonder if there will be fallout for the C&CC that they won't be running it in the future.
The accounts show that there was a lot of profit in 2018 so closure of CITF won't be financial. The 6 biggest, highest earning weeks of the season were still to come (rates charged are at their peak for the summer holidays). Certainly at a normal summer weekend their big New Forest sites could expect to be full.
I can accept that by the time there was confirmation sites in England could open many of the seasonal staff on which CITF rely might have found other things to do and not be available (and yes there would be differing challenges for the Scottish CITF sites where they should already be in their peak season that is ahead of England, yet Ms Sturgeon still limits travel, let alone what can open). They might not have been able to actually staff all sites, but those that were available could have been moved around? C&CC reviewed their club sites weeks earlier, before the UK opening had been confirmed, and determined that some opened fully, some without facilities, and some not at all (and I suspect that allowed some staff movements). You would have expected CITF to have been reviewing at a similar time as plans were fluid, not just blindly carry on until the day after the government said they could re-open and then throw in the towel. Indeed CITF had been previously changing stuff, only a few weeks earlier they'd changed their website to show UK sites were going to re-open on the 4th July, and continued to take bookings until literally 12 hours before the closure announcement. So why the sudden change?
The excuse that the sites are a free for all with pitching so they couldn't maintain spacing doesn't stand scrutiny. Every punter knows there are restrictions this year so on site changes in how you arrive and select your pitch are expected. Rather than the unmarked sites, they could easily have acquired a few stakes to mark the centre of a pitch and told campers to find a vacant stake and pitch directly in front of it. Reduce capacity on some sites to avoid it feeling too crowded if needed (the biggest full facility CITF sites in the New Forest had over 500 pitches). Cleaning of toilet / shower blocks, on the sites that do that would be a problem, it was before Covid-19 came along, as they are so intensely used. Reducing site capacity would help, and may be not open all of the facility sites so staff could move to others to increase cleaning frequency. This doesn't explain why basic non toilet block sites didn't re-open.
The greatest concern would be gatherings of campers. Whilst they discouraged large group bookings, and wouldn't allow gazebos or event tents at peak periods, it was impossible to prevent individuals arriving and effectively forming their own coralle of tents and caravans, even with the 6m pitching distance rule. In turn that would create a headache for stewarding to prevent noise after hours, and currently maintain social distancing. But closure of every site simply due to that one concern would be an excessive reaction. They were already announcing the closure before the Bournemouth beaches debacle so that wasn't really a factor, and in closing CITF haven't looked at the wider picture and pressure on places like the New Forest where many are now concerned there will be an influx of wild campers (it's always been illegal to wild camp in the New Forest), inappropriate BBQs and such like, that will be a much bigger headache to control than a few properly operated campsites.
The decision has been made, and is too late to reverse. Most punters who had bookings have by now made alternate arrangements so won't come back. That will have a future impact as the regular returners are now likely to find they prefer their new alternate sites. So it's only the last minute bookers who would now go to COTF and, perhaps with coronavirus they are the ones who would create biggest operational difficulty risks. Staff will have been laid off so sufficient numbers probably can't be found to restart, but I feel sorry for those who relied on the work. I also feel sorry for all the tourism reliant businesses who needed the campers, and were desperate for the next couple of months after lockdown. One cafe type business in the New Forest estimated 50% of his trade came from campers.
Given the statements of Forestry England, on their website and repeated in many media articles, that they are unhappy about the closure and want a rethink it is the C&CC side , i.e. the operator side, that pulled the plug. Whilst it Forestry England don't want the headache of running the sites themselves, hence the partnership arrangement, you do wonder if there will be fallout for the C&CC that they won't be running it in the future.
The accounts show that there was a lot of profit in 2018 so closure of CITF won't be financial. The 6 biggest, highest earning weeks of the season were still to come (rates charged are at their peak for the summer holidays). Certainly at a normal summer weekend their big New Forest sites could expect to be full.
I can accept that by the time there was confirmation sites in England could open many of the seasonal staff on which CITF rely might have found other things to do and not be available (and yes there would be differing challenges for the Scottish CITF sites where they should already be in their peak season that is ahead of England, yet Ms Sturgeon still limits travel, let alone what can open). They might not have been able to actually staff all sites, but those that were available could have been moved around? C&CC reviewed their club sites weeks earlier, before the UK opening had been confirmed, and determined that some opened fully, some without facilities, and some not at all (and I suspect that allowed some staff movements). You would have expected CITF to have been reviewing at a similar time as plans were fluid, not just blindly carry on until the day after the government said they could re-open and then throw in the towel. Indeed CITF had been previously changing stuff, only a few weeks earlier they'd changed their website to show UK sites were going to re-open on the 4th July, and continued to take bookings until literally 12 hours before the closure announcement. So why the sudden change?
The excuse that the sites are a free for all with pitching so they couldn't maintain spacing doesn't stand scrutiny. Every punter knows there are restrictions this year so on site changes in how you arrive and select your pitch are expected. Rather than the unmarked sites, they could easily have acquired a few stakes to mark the centre of a pitch and told campers to find a vacant stake and pitch directly in front of it. Reduce capacity on some sites to avoid it feeling too crowded if needed (the biggest full facility CITF sites in the New Forest had over 500 pitches). Cleaning of toilet / shower blocks, on the sites that do that would be a problem, it was before Covid-19 came along, as they are so intensely used. Reducing site capacity would help, and may be not open all of the facility sites so staff could move to others to increase cleaning frequency. This doesn't explain why basic non toilet block sites didn't re-open.
The greatest concern would be gatherings of campers. Whilst they discouraged large group bookings, and wouldn't allow gazebos or event tents at peak periods, it was impossible to prevent individuals arriving and effectively forming their own coralle of tents and caravans, even with the 6m pitching distance rule. In turn that would create a headache for stewarding to prevent noise after hours, and currently maintain social distancing. But closure of every site simply due to that one concern would be an excessive reaction. They were already announcing the closure before the Bournemouth beaches debacle so that wasn't really a factor, and in closing CITF haven't looked at the wider picture and pressure on places like the New Forest where many are now concerned there will be an influx of wild campers (it's always been illegal to wild camp in the New Forest), inappropriate BBQs and such like, that will be a much bigger headache to control than a few properly operated campsites.
The decision has been made, and is too late to reverse. Most punters who had bookings have by now made alternate arrangements so won't come back. That will have a future impact as the regular returners are now likely to find they prefer their new alternate sites. So it's only the last minute bookers who would now go to COTF and, perhaps with coronavirus they are the ones who would create biggest operational difficulty risks. Staff will have been laid off so sufficient numbers probably can't be found to restart, but I feel sorry for those who relied on the work. I also feel sorry for all the tourism reliant businesses who needed the campers, and were desperate for the next couple of months after lockdown. One cafe type business in the New Forest estimated 50% of his trade came from campers.
- Apr 19, 2008
- 1,973
- 2,983
- Funster No
- 2,211
- MH
- Rapido fiat based
- Exp
- brought first van 16 yrs ago
Well done, nice thought out reply and answered all that members must have been thinking and experiencing in these trying times. Very informative.
by the time there was confirmation sites in England could open many of the seasonal staff on which CITF rely might have found other things to do and not be available (and yes there would be differing challenges for the Scottish CITF sites where they should already be in their peak season that is ahead of England, yet Ms Sturgeon still limits travel, let alone what can open). They might not have been able to actually staff all sites, but those that were available could have been moved around? C&CC reviewed their club sites weeks earlier, before the UK opening had been confirmed, and determined that some opened fully, some without facilities, and some not at all (and I suspect that allowed some staff movements). You would have expected CITF to have been reviewing at a similar time as plans were fluid, not just blindly carry on until the day after the government said they could re-open and then throw in the towel. Indeed CITF had been previously changing stuff, only a few weeks earlier they'd changed their website to show UK sites were going to re-open on the 4th July, and continued to take bookings until literally 12 hours before the closure announcement. So why the sudden change?
The excuse that the sites are a free for all with pitching so they couldn't maintain spacing doesn't stand scrutiny. Every punter knows there are restrictions this year so on site changes in how you arrive and select your pitch are expected. Rather than the unmarked sites, they could easily have acquired a few stakes to mark the centre of a pitch and told campers to find a vacant stake and pitch directly in front of it. Reduce capacity on some sites to avoid it feeling too crowded if needed (the biggest full facility CITF sites in the New Forest had over 500 pitches). Cleaning of toilet / shower blocks, on the sites that do that would be a problem, it was before Covid-19 came along, as they are so intensely used. Reducing site capacity would help, and may be not open all of the facility sites so staff could move to others to increase cleaning frequency. This doesn't explain why basic non toilet block sites didn't re-open.
The greatest concern would be gatherings of campers. Whilst they discouraged large group bookings, and wouldn't allow gazebos or event tents at peak periods, it was impossible to prevent individuals arriving and effectively forming their own coralle of tents and caravans, even with the 6m pitching distance rule. In turn that would create a headache for stewarding to prevent noise after hours, and currently maintain social distancing. But closure of every site simply due to that one concern would be an excessive reaction. They were already announcing the closure before the Bournemouth beaches debacle so that wasn't really a factor, and in closing CITF haven't looked at the wider picture and pressure on places like the New Forest where many are now concerned there will be an influx of wild campers (it's always been illegal to wild camp in the New Forest), inappropriate BBQs and such like, that will be a much bigger headache to control than a few properly operated campsites.
The decision has been made, and is too late to reverse. Most punters who had bookings have by now made alternate arrangements so won't come back. That will have a future impact as the regular returners are now likely to find they prefer their new alternate sites. So it's only the last minute bookers who would now go to COTF and, perhaps with coronavirus they are the ones who would create biggest operational difficulty risks. Staff will have been laid off so sufficient numbers probably can't be found to restart, but I feel sorry for those who relied on the work. I also feel sorry for all the tourism reliant businesses who needed the campers, and were desperate for the next couple of months after lockdown. One cafe type business in the New Forest estimated 50% of his trade came from campers.
[/QUOTE]
by the time there was confirmation sites in England could open many of the seasonal staff on which CITF rely might have found other things to do and not be available (and yes there would be differing challenges for the Scottish CITF sites where they should already be in their peak season that is ahead of England, yet Ms Sturgeon still limits travel, let alone what can open). They might not have been able to actually staff all sites, but those that were available could have been moved around? C&CC reviewed their club sites weeks earlier, before the UK opening had been confirmed, and determined that some opened fully, some without facilities, and some not at all (and I suspect that allowed some staff movements). You would have expected CITF to have been reviewing at a similar time as plans were fluid, not just blindly carry on until the day after the government said they could re-open and then throw in the towel. Indeed CITF had been previously changing stuff, only a few weeks earlier they'd changed their website to show UK sites were going to re-open on the 4th July, and continued to take bookings until literally 12 hours before the closure announcement. So why the sudden change?
The excuse that the sites are a free for all with pitching so they couldn't maintain spacing doesn't stand scrutiny. Every punter knows there are restrictions this year so on site changes in how you arrive and select your pitch are expected. Rather than the unmarked sites, they could easily have acquired a few stakes to mark the centre of a pitch and told campers to find a vacant stake and pitch directly in front of it. Reduce capacity on some sites to avoid it feeling too crowded if needed (the biggest full facility CITF sites in the New Forest had over 500 pitches). Cleaning of toilet / shower blocks, on the sites that do that would be a problem, it was before Covid-19 came along, as they are so intensely used. Reducing site capacity would help, and may be not open all of the facility sites so staff could move to others to increase cleaning frequency. This doesn't explain why basic non toilet block sites didn't re-open.
The greatest concern would be gatherings of campers. Whilst they discouraged large group bookings, and wouldn't allow gazebos or event tents at peak periods, it was impossible to prevent individuals arriving and effectively forming their own coralle of tents and caravans, even with the 6m pitching distance rule. In turn that would create a headache for stewarding to prevent noise after hours, and currently maintain social distancing. But closure of every site simply due to that one concern would be an excessive reaction. They were already announcing the closure before the Bournemouth beaches debacle so that wasn't really a factor, and in closing CITF haven't looked at the wider picture and pressure on places like the New Forest where many are now concerned there will be an influx of wild campers (it's always been illegal to wild camp in the New Forest), inappropriate BBQs and such like, that will be a much bigger headache to control than a few properly operated campsites.
The decision has been made, and is too late to reverse. Most punters who had bookings have by now made alternate arrangements so won't come back. That will have a future impact as the regular returners are now likely to find they prefer their new alternate sites. So it's only the last minute bookers who would now go to COTF and, perhaps with coronavirus they are the ones who would create biggest operational difficulty risks. Staff will have been laid off so sufficient numbers probably can't be found to restart, but I feel sorry for those who relied on the work. I also feel sorry for all the tourism reliant businesses who needed the campers, and were desperate for the next couple of months after lockdown. One cafe type business in the New Forest estimated 50% of his trade came from campers.
[/QUOTE]
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Please take a look at Cameron McNishs utube video about the sites and he will be doing an updated one tomorrow. He is very well known in Scotland and has the ear of many in a TV tourism and Politic. Try to support his push.
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