Action call after Hednesford Hills meet leads to road chaos
Councillors are calling for action over problems caused by a meeting at Hednesford Raceway.
Organisers Incarace are being urged to put forward a management plan to ensure locals are not inconvenienced on future race days.
It comes after reports of road chaos caused during a meeting at the Hednesford Hills site on January 12.
District and county councillor Bryan Jones said there had been reports of inconsiderate parking by spectators, blocking driveways, and double parking which prevented access for emergency services.
He said there had also been significant littering along surrounding roads, and added access was illegally gained to land off Priory Road with the grass being churned up - at considerable cost to the owner.
An emergency meeting has since been held at Cannock Police Station to seek a solution. Councillor Jones was joined by colleague Councillor Phil Hewitt, together with district council officials, the authority’s lead licensing officer and other interested parties.
It was agreed that along with other measures, the event organisers ‘Incarace Motorsport’ would be required to put forward an Event Management Plan if they wished to hold a similar event next year.
Councillor Jones said: “The complete lack of planning by the organisers of the event is totally unacceptable to the residents of Hednesford.
"Despite assurances given last year the problems were even worse this time.
"Phil Hewitt and I will be writing to the organisers to express our dissatisfaction and will be working with the police, the licensing department, other officials, the organisers themselves and most importantly, local residents, to ensure this level of inconvenience is not repeated.”
Councillor Hewitt said: “I echo those comments and whilst we welcome the prosperity that such events bring to local businesses and the area generally, we must require the organisers to be a good neighbour and this will be our focus going forward.”
Dean Wood, managing director of Incarace, said: "I would like to apologise to all the local residents.
"I have already asked for a meeting with the local MP and council to discuss ways forward for next year to be able not interfere with the local residents."
