Hack writer

New Managing Director of racecourse: Rupert Trevelyan has been appointed to the Conservators, to replace Nick Blofeld, as the new managing director of the racecourse. Rupert has an events management background, rather than racing: something of a novelty for the racecourse, suggesting a shift of focus for the future.

Training Grounds Management Board met on 21 September. Reconsidered the use of the hatched area, and found that conditions did not permit it to be opened to public use. No surprise there. 170 horses now using training areas, enabling TGMB to pay off outstanding debts, primarily the Mac Track investment (the one at the bottom of Six Mile Hill).

Dog control: all Surrey authorities are trying to take a co-ordinated and uniform approach. New controls may emerge at a later date. Agreed that publicity for the downs needs to focus on control of dogs in vicinity of horses.

Friends of Epsom and Walton Downs: a group of volunteers is being established. The first meeting will be on Saturday 7 November at 1300, at the Rosebery Road entrance to the Downs, and is likely to include opening up one of the overgrown bridleways. There will also be an Epsom and Walton Downs newsletter, a draft of which was circulated.

Tractors: the downskeepers are to receive two new tractors on lease. Apparently, no funds have been set aside to replace the ageing existing vehicles, so a lease was the only option.

Cycling byelaw: a byelaw was approved by the conservators, which will make it an offence to cycle on the downs except on ‘designated routes’. However, the byelaw will now go to the consultative committee for consideration, and will need to be confirmed by the Secretary of State.

Event management strategy: the strategy categorises events by their expected impact, and sets nominal thresholds for events in each category. There will be a cycle of applications culminating in the Conservators’ meetings in April and October, which will decide whether to grant or refuse them.

Downs information leaflets: a raft of these have been prepared, targeted at different users, including the hack riders’ leaflet (which has been years in gestation). So many comments had been generated that it was decided to defer consideration to a later meeting, with a new deadline for comment of end-December.

Hack sand track: the agenda suggested “discussions between Borough Council officers and the secretary of the TGMB are underway with regard to resolving the uncertainty over responsibility for maintenance of the sand track”. However, Andrew Cooper, TGMB secretary, said it was nothing to do with him, and business moved briskly on to the next item.

Silence! The chairman affirmed that, contrary to the impression given in the agenda, the public is not allowed to speak at conservators’ meetings. She didn’t explain why: the board frequently invites non-members to address its meetings.

Habitat Management Plan: modifications to address the management needs of the golf course area will now go ahead, funding having been secured (meaning, we hope, that scrub control will be improved, and the burden shared with the golf course management).

Byelaws: the consultative committee’s request that the conservators consider the possibility of including byelaws on cycling and dog control in proposals for new byelaws on radio-controlled cars was noted. It was thought that byelaws might not be appropriate for enforcing dog control, but advice on a byelaw controlling cycling would be presented to the October meeting.

Dog control: Sam Whitehead updated the conservators on proposals for Surrey-wide changes on dog control (see paper 4).

Metal detecting: a new map showing areas in which metal detecting is permitted was circulated: oddly enough, it coincides almost exactly with the hack areas. Odd that metal detecting is considered acceptable on the hack areas, but not on the training areas.

Training Grounds Management Board: met on 7 July, and as reported to the consultative committee meeting earlier in the month, discussed the use of the hatched area, but concluded that ground conditions did not permit use by hack riders.

10% increase in horses in training on the downs. The fibresand track has been refurbished, and a sinking fund is being built up for future work. Rupert Trevelyan has been appointed as the new managing director of Epsom Racecourse, to replace Nick Blofeld: his background is commercial rather than racing.

The Derby: the racecourse view is that it will not wish to reinstate the Tattenham Corner fair next year, but a final decision will be taken by the incoming managing director. Several conservators implied that the suppression of the Tattenham Corner fair had changed, for the worse, the atmosphere around the replacement fairground on the Hill. Andrew Cooper acknowledged that the racecourse would need to take this effect into account. Surrey Police’s report was criticised for being anodyne and failing to address conservators’ concerns. Policing was said to evaporate after the racing had concluded, leaving the local community victim to continuing disorder. The clerk will write to Surrey Police with the conservators’ concerns.

Charging for cleaning up after events: following poor arrangements for the Race for Life earlier in the year, a reinstatement bond is planned (to cover the costs of a clean-up if the organisers fail to do it themselves), which will be presented as part of the events strategy to the October meeting… .

Events strategy: preparation of the strategy has been delayed owing to staff sickness, and will now be received at the October 2009 meeting, but several pending applications were presented for approval, including the St Ebba’s TREC 2010. Simon Dow had written saying that the downs were under huge pressure, and that the conservators should not sanction increased use. One member sensibly asked whether the policy was ‘first come, first served’, at least until the strategy was in place. All the pending applications were approved.

Downskeepers’ hut: consultation with the downskeepers had identified reservations about the relocation to a converted toilet block. Further work would be required.

Horseman’s Sunday: there was a lengthy discussion about the decline of Horseman’s Sunday, and whether gypsy trotters would turn up in September 2009 even though the event was not taking place.

Golf ball washers: the golf club had asked for permission to erect these in various places on the golf course. There was a consensus that the purpose of the washers was essentially commercial, in providing space for advertising, and that the washers were too bulky and intrusive, and so permission was refused.

Date of next meeting: 14 October 2009.

News received last night that the special meeting of the conservators, planned for this evening (23 April) to consider the racecourse’s application for a concert in 2010, has been cancelled. The story so far: the 2009 concert proposal was approved, then cancelled, now the 2010 proposal has been put forward, and then withdrawn.

It’s not clear whether the racecourse have cancelled the 2010 concert, even before it got off the ground, or more likely, they have agreed with our view that the proposal was too lightweight and lacking sufficient detail to merit approval. In which case, they’ll be back… .

Horseman’s Sunday: the conservators want to see a risk assessment for future events: such are the problems arising from gypsies’ use of the downs on Horsemen’s Sunday for trotting races, that the future looks uncertain. As the organisers have not yet requested permission to hold the event this year, no decision was made.

New downskeeper: Bob Harding has been appointed from among the downskeeping team as head downskeeper. Congratulations to Bob!

Replacement byelaw boards: the conservators want to use funds from the planning agreement (a ‘section 106 agreement’) for the new hotel on the downs, but have run into trouble with the council’s planning officer, presumably because the conservators are obliged to maintain byelaw boards, and shouldn’t need to raid the planning pot of money for that purpose. Approval will be sought from a council committee in July, so there will be no new byelaw boards, nor the new information panels, until the autumn.

Concert: it’s still uncertain whether this will go ahead in 2010, as some key documents haven’t been signed, but a meeting has been scheduled for 23 April to determine an application just the same. We have already commented.

Radio controlled cars: use of these is a problem in some areas (particularly in the car parks), and legal advice was given that the existing byelaws could be used to take action, but only if annoyance was proved to other downs users. Simon Dow said that there was regular interference with training, and that it was also a threat to hack riders. The downskeepers said it was difficult to take action unless there was a complaint, because of the way the byelaws were framed. The clerk said it wasn’t difficult to change the byelaws, if that’s what the conservators wanted, and the conservators asked for this to be done. Pity no-one thought about what other byelaws could do with an update at the same time, especially as changes may be needed to the byelaws on dogs (see below).

Hot air balloon: permission was given to tether a hot air balloon on the downs during the afternoon of the spring meeting.

Training Grounds Management Board: the chairman said she had nothing to report of any interest. Goodness knows what they actually discuss there, as it’s not the first time that the chairman’s has delivered a null report!

Fencing: the conservators agreed a new policy for approving proposals for fencing on the downs, where the conservators are required to approve fencing under the 1984 Act. This looks like an improvement on what has happened in the past, when fencing has been put up (e.g. to demolish the totaliser board) without any permission.

Dog control: it was explained that a new dog control strategy was needed across the borough, and not just on the downs: this was a high priority for the conservators and the council. Simon Dow explained the risk to horses, their owners and their riders. Head downskeeper Bob Harding thought it would be hard to secure enforcement, but the results, if successful, would transform the downs for its users. Conservators asked about timescales for implementation and whether there were potential quick wins, but were told that the strategy needed to be dealt with as a whole, rather than piecemeal, and there would be progress reports at future meetings.

Metal detecting: the conservators approved new arrangements for restricting metal detecting: the map showing where it will be allowed, including digging to extract finds, looked like it coincided pretty much with the hack areas: nobody thought to comment on this. Apparently, it’s fine to dig up the hack rides, but not acceptable on the golf course, the training areas, or even on Juniper Hill!

Derby week fair: the racecourse has decided not to allow a fair on the downs during Derby week this year, apparently because of past ‘disorder’, but it seems its decision was somewhat influenced by the prospect of securing more parking places attracting more income. True, the fair is pretty unpopular with many local residents, but not one conservator thought to question the wisdom of abolishing this historic element of the Derby week in favour of an additional car park.

Extension of preparatory period for Derby fencing: agreement was given to allow yet another four days for fencing in the Upper Tattenham area, which means the loss of use to hack riders of the ‘platform’ alongside the racecourse still earlier. Sadly, no-one ever questions the need for these derogations, they just go through on the nod. Indeed, the conservators spent rather longer discussing arrangements for the conservators’ complimentary admission to race meetings (they get free admission to the Queen’s or Duchess’ grandstand at every race meeting throughout the year). Surprisingly, only the chief executive of the racecourse, Nick Blofeld, could see that some might think the level of hospitality open to criticism.

Gypsy site on the downs: this will open on Friday 29 May. In theory, there will be a ban on quad bikes.

Date of next meeting: special meetings will be held on 23 April (to approve the concert application) and on 23 June (to approve the accounts), with the next general meeting on 22 July

Date of conservators’ downs tour: 7 July at 14:30 (the same day as the consultative committee meeting).

Clerk to the conservators: Frances Rutter has been appointed as interim chief executive to the council, and ex officio interim clerk to the Conservators, owing to the illness of David Smith.

Retirement of the head downskeeper: the council is now recruiting a replacement, advertising internally and externally. An interim supervisor will be appointed from the existing team.

Habitat Management Plan: the final plan remains elusive, but it was hoped to have an update by end of January.

Rubbing House car park: a planning application to the council is imminent to increase car parking space between the access road and the Rubbing House car park wall.

Fencing on the downs: proposal for a better process to approve fencing will be brought to next meeting.

Signposting on the downs: byelaws boards are the main outstanding task: 27 need to be replaced. Some may double up as interpretation boards. Much needed design assistance will be offered by the racecourse.

Horseman’s Sunday: a risk assessment will be considered at the next meeting.

TGMB: Concern that new grandstand will create new foot traffic (particularly to and from the hotel) conflicting with movements of horses in training (across Tattenham Corner Road). Proposal to allow horses to pass to the other side of the fence up to bridge, with resurfacing necessary. To be funded by the racecourse. Improvements may also be sought to lighting to improve the environment after dark.

157 winners trained from Epsom in 2008: number of horses in training reported healthy, and prize winning performance good. There are currently no yards available for rent.

Cancellation of concerts on downs in 2008: the concerts have been ‘postponed’ from 2008 to 2009. Some questions about powers to stage concerts have been answered in brief, but these tend to underline the inadequacy of the original advice from counsel. The racecourse would like to seek approval from the next meeting of the Conservators, and approval from the Council shortly thereafter: one conservator pointed out that the economy would not have picked up by then, but the racecourse wants an approval in its pocket by then to enable advance planning. Another conservator agreed that the points raised by the consultative committee should be addressed in the advice to the conservators, but was reassured that ‘the answers would be the same’.

Bridleway 65: the ‘racehorses only’ sign will be repositioned within the next month, and a wider opening at the northern end will be put in place ‘imminently’.

Communication of the consultative committees’ views: two conservators thought that the consultative committee should be regularly invited to represent the views of the committee.

Out of control dogs: the clerk thought the byelaws were sufficient to ensure that dogs should be kept under control or on leads, but the legal team will provide advice on changing the byelaws if that is required. Simon Dow said the trainers wanted to see all dogs kept on leads while horses were in training (i.e. before noon), and thought that there were accidents waiting to happen, with various unpleasant incidents occurring. The chairman mentioned an email from a hack rider about dogs out of control, and the racecourse confirmed that this was a problem equally for hack riders. However, the downskeepers thought it would be difficult to enforce a requirement for dogs to be kept on leads: some dog owners could be abusive. A councillor thought there should be signs to drive the message home. It was observed that the byelaws had not been prosecuted for some years, and the conservators had to be confident that there was proper signage.

Proposed events on the downs: 2009 will be the busiest racing year ever, with 14 race meetings, including five days when there will be evening concerts after racing. The council will keep a schedule of events on its website, so that downs users can find out when conflicting events are taking place. One councillor hit the mark when she pointed out that the downs were supposed to be a place for quiet recreation, and that the conservators had no policy on what was an acceptable number of events. Ten runs had been planned for the winter period of 2008-09, and Simon Dow said that many of these were interfering with both training and recreational use of the downs, particularly as many events were set up early in the day. The conservators agreed that they needed a strategy to handle requests for such events, and decided to withhold permission for a charity fun run in the autumn.

Next meeting: 15 April 2009

A long agenda but a short meeting, with little to report of interest to hack riders. However, we were told that the Training Grounds Management Board will consider hack riders’ use of the hatched area at a special meeting on 22 April.

Video surveillance: The conservators have previously got quite excited at the idea of video surveillance of Six Mile Hill, to catch hack riders using the training grounds. They call this ‘abuse’ of the training gallops by hack riders, though oddly, they never refer to ‘abuse’ of the downs by dog walkers failing to clear up after their dogs, or ‘abuse’ of the downs by kite flying outside the designated area. The conservators were told that they would have to jump through all sorts of hoops to engage in video monitoring, and they didn’t seem sufficiently motivated to take it on. No-one asked whether the same requirements had to be met if the downskeepers wanted to film someone visibly breaking the byelaws.

Habitat action plan: This was circulated to the conservators, but not to anyone else, so we’ll have to wait until the run-up to the consultative committee in June to see it. It should promise a timetable for clearing some of the scrub on the downs, including some of the blocked hack rides.

Next meeting: Takes place on 24 July 2008.

A pretty routine meeting this evening.

Abuse of the gallops: It was reported that the Training Grounds Management Board was unhappy once again about hack riders riding on the gallops. So are we, but then we’re unhappy about kite flyers flying kites on the hack areas, dog walkers letting their dogs run under riders’ feet, cyclists riding without regard for other downs users, etc. The point is that it’s difficult to catch people, and even more difficult to make a prosecution stick. There’s no provision for fixed penalty tickets in the local Act, and there’s little appetite for prosecution. At least no-one’s likely to get hurt if a hack rider takes to the gallops, but people can and do get hurt when dogs attack horses. So a sense of priorities is needed.

Rubbing House: Pressure to increase parking for customers of the Rubbing House continues to mount. Current thinking is to pave some of the verges, but we’re wary of any proposal to extend parking onto the downs below the access road. Plans will be put to the next conservators’ meeting in January.

Marking of hack rides: The downskeepers reported that work to repaint the posts marking the hack rides was almost complete. Unfortunately, this hardly addresses the question of whether the posts are in the right place. We’ll take it up at the consultative committee meeting on 6 November.

Downs House hack ride: This is the one on the south side of the Downs House enclosure. The width is less than 3 metres, whereas it’s supposed to be 9 metres, affording a broad grassy strip all the way up the gentle gradient to Walton Road. There was agreement that the scrub adjacent to the Downs House enclosure needs to be cut back, perhaps over two years, to regenerate a grassy sward on the inside of the existing hard track. However, suggestions that the current track was constructed to the outside of the original track, so that the scrub lies over hardcore rather than turf, may make this difficult to realise.

Let’s concrete over the downs! Concern about congested parking around the Rubbing House (which is exceptionally popular at weekends) led to a remarkable proposal: why not concrete over the downs below the access road to the Rubbing House? OK, so the idea was to put down a limited area of grasscrete for overflow parking, but it was salutary to see how the conservators (statutory duty: “to preserve the Downs so far as possible in their natural state of beauty”) lined up to support this proposal. Only some reservations on the part of the clerk kept them from rubberstamping it right away! And ‘overflow’ could mean every lunchtime and evening, 365 days a year! By the way, the land nominated for this ‘upgrade’ is a statutory hack area. And no-one even mentioned the words ‘planning permission’.

Mac track at bottom of Six Mile Hill: The trainers complained that some hack riders are regularly but covertly using the high quality gallop at the foot of Six Mile Hill, in preference to the sand track. We supported their plans to put barriers across the mac track out of training hours as a practical solution, but pointed out that continuing problems with maintaining the sand track might be a contributory factor.

Diversion of bridleway 65: This long-running saga is now likely to go ahead, meaning that the public bridleway which trails across the south-eastern corner of Six Mile Hill (towards the middle-left of the photo) will be diverted to the hardcore track around the south-eastern perimeter fence (which is where most people think it is now). Horse riders will still be able to use the old route, because it’s a statutory hack ride, and cannot be diverted.

Chalk Lane: Chalk Lane has been used as a rat-run for years, particularly since the gate at Durdans was removed (or stolen). It’s supposed to be closed to all motor traffic, except for ‘access’. The county council doesn’t really know what to do about it, and promises a feasibility study — but no new gate, apparently because it might be dangerous (now, we wouldn’t want motorists put at risk, would we?). A couple of steel bollards might do the trick, though… .

Dogs: The trainers raised the danger to their horses (and their riders) from dogs. Sometimes, owners are seen to encourage their dogs onto the training areas, putting at risk riders, horses — and dogs. Hack riders face the same problems all day long, and we agree with the trainers that the conservators need to address communication, and think about more direct signage and the availability of a code of rights and responsibilities in leaflets.

Additional hack riding area: There was provisional agreement to radically cutting back the scrub along the edge of the gallop at the bottom of Six Mile Hill, below Juniper Hill. This will reduce the rabbit population, which is the Training Grounds Management Board’s main excuse for not allowing use of the hatched area by hack riders. So next year the Board will again be invited to consider the use of a track across the hatched area.

Website for the Downs: The conservators were introduced to ‘their’ website, actually a page on the website of Epsom and Ewell Borough Council (oddly, the conservators either don’t believe in branding, or don’t actually realise they’re not part of the council). It’s quite an improvement on what was there before (not difficult), and a leaflet on hack riding is promised, to be available on-line and on-site.

Tattenham Corner crossing: The Pegasus crossing on Tattenham Corner Road cost around £60,000 (not £30,000 as stated here previously!), and is really only of value to the nearby racing stables. The conservators heard that further works to make the crossing of use to hack riders, cyclists and walkers could be pursued only if the works were put forward for funding in the Epsom and Ewell local committee, in February 2007.

Hack riders to be prosecuted with video evidence? The conservators discussed whether video cameras should be used by the downskeepers to collect evidence of hack riders riding on the training gallops. Although the proposal from the trainers received considerable support from conservators, the clerk, David Smith, sensibly counselled caution, pointing out that the evidential requirements were onerous, that a conviction under the byelaws remained a hopeless cause until signposting and publicity had been improved, and that even then, only regular offenders should be targeted.

And, would you believe it, no-one suggested that video evidence should be gathered on dog walkers failing to clear up after their dogs, or folk flying kites outside the designated areas?

Post-Derby clear up: Our and others’ complaints about the standard of clearing up after the Derby were discussed by the conservators. A fortnight after the event, there were still large quantities of glass on the raised bank next to the home straight, and on the bridleway 127 part of Old London Road — something which wouldn’t be accepted for a moment on the training gallops. The detritus on the Hill, near the Tote stand, which reappears after each Derby, was left again this year. And the litter clear-up failed to reach down Old London Road to Buckles Gap. Racecourse representative Stephen Wallis admitted that they had used new contractors this year, who had failed to deliver, and gave an assurance that it wouldn’t happen again next year.

Explorer maps to show hack rides: The conservators have agreed to our proposal that future editions of the Ordnance Survey Explorer map should show details of the statutory hack rides. Sadly, the next edition is not due out for several years!

Downs strategy: The Downs Strategy was approved by the conservators with some amendments. It’s a bit weak on commitments, but better than earlier drafts. It’s likely to be published on the Epsom and Ewell council website later this year.

Additional hack riding area: The Training Grounds Management Board had yet again considered whether hack riders should be able to ride on the so-called hatched area — and concluded the answer was no! The Board has decided the eastern segment is dangerous for horses to use (true, because the area has been left to go to rot), and that there are what were called ‘policy’ reasons against use of the western segment (in other words, they want it for their own use). But they also know they’re legally skating on thin ice, and we had a fair hearing at a site visit on 1 August. Watch this space… .

Tattenham Corner crossing: The Pegasus crossing on Tattenham Corner Road cost around £30,000, and is really only of value to the nearby racing stables (which, to be fair, has an undoubted need, and uses the crossing several times each day) — the push button for equestrians on the north side of the road is actually located on private property! It was originally part of a programme of highway improvements to enhance access between the Hill and the track down to Rifle Butts Alley. But, here’s a surprise, the package was quietly dropped and only the crossing installed. We are lobbying for the wider package to be resuscitated as part of the changes involving the diversion of bridleway 65 and the improvement of National Cycle Route 22.