Following dismissal of their planning appeal in April this year, Hampshire motocross facility Tonymoto have lodged a new application which has every chance of success. The planning Inspector’s appeal decision – which ran to 12 pages – determined that the allegations of noise disturbance and dust creation from motocross had been exaggerated.
In fact, her decision basically states that there are no sustainable objections to motocross but she dismissed the appeal on a technicality that a biodiversity report had not been submitted – even though one was not requested by Winchester City Council.
Tonymoto were also awarded costs – somewhere in the region of £200,000 – after the Inspector found that the council ‘acted unreasonably in its failure to substantiate its first reason for refusal and in so doing caused the appellant unnecessary or wasted expense in the appeal process’.
Tonymoto operator Tony Child would like to take this opportunity to thank Dave Thorpe and PMXC Chairman Martin Bradbury for giving up their time to appear at the inquiry as witnesses in support of the appeal.
However, while Tony is confident of success in this new application it’s still by no means a done deal and he’s appealing for MX fans to lodge a letter of support with Winchester City Council.
Planning Department,
Winchester City Council,
City Offices,
Colebrook Street,
Winchester,
Hampshire
SO23 9LJ
It’s essential that all correspondence quotes the planning application reference number 11/01233/FUL and please only contact the council using one of the above methods.
“We are receiving support from established MX stars and rising stars such as Dave Thorpe, Stephen Sword, Zach Osborne and Kristian Whatley,” says Greg Cezair, Managing Director of MCS Ltd who ran the last application, “but we would like anyone who has used the Tonymoto facility in the past to write in and support the new application and tell the council what a loss not having Tonymoto’s has been. We would also urge local businesses that have suffered as a consequence of the closure to write in and support the application.”
If you have any planning issues, particularly in relation to motocross facilities, Greg can be contacted at gregcezair@live.com or on 07801 474086.
