Issue - meetings

This report introduces a new policy to regulate the use of the Downs by small groups.

The Conservators received a report proposing the introduction of a new policy to regulate the use of the Downs by small groups. The following matters were considered:

a)            Level of interest in use of the Downs by small groups. The Downs Manager informed the Conservators that over the past 6 months she had received a number of requests for permission to use the Downs for small group activities. These included both commercial operations (such as fitness groups/personal trainers) and charity/community groups. The Conservators’ event strategy did not currently provide any guidance on the regulation of the use of the Downs by such groups.

b)            Impact of granting approval to small group use. The Conservators expressed concern that granting approval to the use of the Downs by small groups could lead to the proliferation of such activities, and negative impact on the condition of the Downs and use for other activities, such as race horse training. It was noted that the proposed policy would not permit any events during race horse training times, and that all applications would require the consent of the Conservators, to guard against proliferation. It also proposed that each applicant be limited to a maximum of 6 small group events on the downs per year.

c)            Difficulty in regulation of events. The Conservators were informed that some small group events were already informally held on the Downs, but were difficult to regulate, as they either used public rights of way over which the Conservators had little control, or could not be distinguished from individual public use (permitted by the Epsom and Walton Downs Regulation Act 1984), due to their small size.

d)            Potential for policy to permit specific group use. The Conservators considered whether it would be possible to introduce a policy which only permitted a small number of specific small group activities, if they did not wish to approve the proposed policy. The Downs Manager advised the meeting that this would be very challenging to both define and implement.

Following consideration, the Conservators expressed the view that small group activities should not be permitted on the Downs due to their potential negative impact upon the condition of the Downs and existing activities. Accordingly, the Conservators:

(1)          Refused to approve the proposed policy to regulate small group sessions on the Downs.