Cirencester Park CMC site - new access road

[AndyPK]

For those that fancy a little light reading. In particular the penultimate paragraph on page 7.

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Come on, Maz, don’t keep us in suspense.........what does it say (in a nutshell).......?

 

[Mr David]

Come on, Maz, don’t keep us in suspense.........what does it say (in a nutshell).......?

The Tennis and Cricket club were pleased with the design of the road and the emphasis upon safety but wanted some passing spaces so that caravans did not need to reverse. The Caravan Club did not respond to invitations to this consultation.

 

[maz]

Here is a copy of the planning application drawing - unfortunately it’s in two halves as I can only do it with screenshots:

As you can see, the plan shows no sign of lay-bys. We have the Tennis and Cricket clubs to thank for those being included. Good job they were thinking of motorhomers and caravanners because the Caravan & Motorhome Club obviously weren’t!

 

[Silver-Fox]

I don’t think the pacing places are big enough.

Along with the shape of the road there’s going to be issues.

IMHO

 

[cornish boy]

hard to see but the plan did show that a passing place is included:

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[maz]

hard to see but the plan did show that a passing place is included:

View attachment 397660

That is where the double gates are to provide vehicle access into the college grounds. If that was to be the only passing place we’d really be in deep doo-doo.

 

[Kybod]

A video of the road has now appeared on You Tube. Mike

 

[David and Sally]

Once the college is reopened I think those rocks will regularly be moved into the road by students who think it’s all a bit of fun.

They are all too busy rioting!!!

 

[BobtheBass]

That's horrific! Bad enough driving a car down it but a tag axle Motorhome or twin axle caravan? That's one site crossed off my list.

 

[Landy Andy]

I’m sure it’s the camera. But I can’t see any problem.

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[David and Sally]

I was there a couple of weeks ago. It's tight and if you meet a decent sized outfit coming the other way - there is going to be damage done.

 

[Hellski]

A video of the road has now appeared on You Tube. Mike

OMG, that's crazy!!

Unfortunate for those that are inevitably going to be causing damage to their pride and joys in navigating this, it will be interesting to see the approach taken by A) insurance companies and B) the college once claims are made against them............

 

[Hellski]

I’m sure it’s the camera. But I can’t see any problem.

Main problem I see is with the passing places and the fact that they've used stone boulders on the verges.

Increase the size of the passing places to be suitable for the traffic using the road and remove all stone boulders, problem solved

 

[AndyPK]

Main problem I see is with the passing places and the fact that they've used stone boulders on the verges.

Increase the size of the passing places to be suitable for the traffic using the road and remove all stone boulders, problem solved

....if the college agrees to remove the boulders, the verges are soft, so not so good to drive on when wet.....

 

[maz]

....if the college agrees to remove the boulders, the verges are soft, so not so good to drive on when wet.....

The gravel strips that the college originally wanted to include would have been fine, but apparently the Planning or Highways dept would not allow them.

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[cornish boy]

The gravel strips that the college originally wanted to include would have been fine, but apparently the Planning or Highways dept would not allow them.

'Gravel strips' on the plan are drains, would rather try my luck on soft grass than 2 foot deep gravel

 

[maz]

Not much of an update really

I eventually received a reply from CMC to my email asking when the rocks would be removed. This turns out to be a standard email response which lots of Members have received. Copied below:

Thank you for contacting the Club regarding the details and design layout of the new access road to Cirencester Club Site.

The single-track road is owned and has been developed by Cirencester College to replace the former single-track road on a like for like basis but in an alternative position.

Whilst the Club had visibility of the proposed layout at planning stage – including the addition of official passing points which the former single-track road did not – we were not aware of the inclusion of boulders in this scheme. Whilst we understand that the college have used these boulders to preserve the integrity of the banks at the side of the road, we are encouraging them to consider alternatives as it is these boulders which are causing the greatest concern.

Our Head of Estates and operational management team are now working with the College to encourage improvements to support our members and all users of the road.

More interesting than their reply is the word that the CMC are getting an estimate from a builder that they use for a lot of their site works (and who presumably would prioritise work on this access road). This is for alterations to the road to be made at the CMC’s expense.

 

[Pausim]

Before you could see if someone was entering the narrow bit but now that view appears to be obscured. Motorhome with toad is going to struggle to get into the passing bays, I might unhitch the toad and take it in separately. They could consider traffic lights like they have at Bunree, I would rather a few minutes delay than lots of reversing.

 

[SpeedyDux]

It's a caravan and motorhome trap!

Commonsense would have provided a one-way system using both the old and new roads.

 

[Margaritaman]

It's a caravan and motorhome trap!

.... or a “cunning plan” to promote Social Distancing

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[Mikey RV]

To me it wo

It's a caravan and motorhome trap!

Commonsense would have provided a one-way system using both the old and new roads.

Thats what I thought, left the old road as it was but only for the club traffic so when you come round the first bend you go straight on as it comes out right by the entrance, Block of the old exit after coming out from the barrier so you go back up the old road. Other new road for all cricket and tennis club traffic.

 

[Silver-Fox]

The gravel strips that the college originally wanted to include would have been fine, but apparently the Planning or Highways dept would not allow them.

Im surprised planning was involved along with highways

After all it’s a private road

 

[maz]

Im surprised planning was involved along with highways

After all it’s a private road

In the maintenance plan it is explained as follows:

The change in route itself does not require planning consent as it is a private road on private land. However, due to the area of wasteland which will be covered by the road surface, planning permission was required for that. Although Gloucestershire County Council has no interest in adopting the lane and has no direct jurisdiction over it, their Highways Officer asked for a series of modifications to the plans which the College are to undertake at their expense and also for a Maintenance Plan.

 

[Silver-Fox]

In the maintenance plan it is explained as follows:

The change in route itself does not require planning consent as it is a private road on private land. However, due to the area of wasteland which will be covered by the road surface, planning permission was required for that. Although Gloucestershire County Council has no interest in adopting the lane and has no direct jurisdiction over it, their Highways Officer asked for a series of modifications to the plans which the College are to undertake at their expense and also for a Maintenance Plan.

They’ve cocked up on the design then.

 

[maz]

Saturday 4 July

Apparently there will be around 200 vans flocking to the site on the day it reopens. As part of the CMC reopening plans:

In order to help with staggering arrivals on the first day of opening, if you have a booking to arrive on 4 July, a member of our site team will be in contact with you by telephone between 23 Jun to 2 July to arrange advance payment and agree an arrival time with you (please do not contact the site directly, they will contact you). We will be agreeing and booking arrival times from 9am and would ask you to please be flexible if your initial choice of arrival time is unavailable.

To add to the ‘excitement’ of navigating the new access road that Saturday there will be some 8 or 9 fulltimers leaving the site that morning. There will also be the usual tennis and cricket club traffic up and down the road all day.

One rumour is that there will need to be a warden stationed at each end of the access road with a walkie-talkie controlling the traffic.

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[Mikey RV]

Best you leave at 6 am then Maz, beat the traffic

 

[maz]

Best you leave at 6 am then Maz, beat the traffic

Not too fond of early mornings.

 

[Nirvanauk]

Saturday 4 July

Apparently there will be around 200 vans flocking to the site on the day it reopens. As part of the CMC reopening plans:

In order to help with staggering arrivals on the first day of opening, if you have a booking to arrive on 4 July, a member of our site team will be in contact with you by telephone between 23 Jun to 2 July to arrange advance payment and agree an arrival time with you (please do not contact the site directly, they will contact you). We will be agreeing and booking arrival times from 9am and would ask you to please be flexible if your initial choice of arrival time is unavailable.

To add to the ‘excitement’ of navigating the new access road that Saturday there will be some 8 or 9 fulltimers leaving the site that morning. There will also be the usual tennis and cricket club traffic up and down the road all day.

One rumour is that there will need to be a warden stationed at each end of the access road with a walkie-talkie controlling the traffic.

Crikey, I'm glad that I'm not going there then!!

 

[7735]

I wouldn’t mind half a dozen for my rockery.
Spongy

 

[maz]

Bit more of an update

The following now appears on the ‘Prices’ page for Cirencester Park on the CMC website:

This Club campsite will open from 4 July 2020 and will be adapted to the new social distancing and safety requirements set out by the UK government. Our priority is first and foremost the health and safety of our staff, our members, our guests and the local communities.

Despite the Club, the Tennis Club and the Cricket Club submitting their objections to Cirencester College relating to its proposed new access road earlier this year, the College submitted a planning application and undertook the works to form the new access road in May 2020. The application and subsequent works failed to address the various Clubs' concerns specifically relating to the boulders and the blind bend close to the start of the access road. The Club has been working with the College and Bathurst Estate (the Club's landlord) to try and identify a mutually acceptable solution to address these issues. The solution needs to balance the College's need to ensure the safety of its staff, pupils and visitors with the various Clubs' needs for a safe and manageable access to their sites. The Club's Head of Estates has held two site meetings with the College's Operations Director over the last 2 weeks in order to try and rectify this issue ahead of the site reopening on 4 July. A further meeting with the College and the Club's contractors is to be held on Tuesday 30 June to agree and mark-up the proposed solution on site. The works, once finally agreed, will be undertaken as soon as possible thereafter.

A somewhat different version of events to that published in the planning documents.

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