Looks like Mallory Park is done and dusted - Mallory Park circuit files for administration - Other news - AUTOSPORT.com
such a shame ruined by local busy bodies. not that they care that people will lose jobs, it's just a noisy racetrack afterall
Decent thread about this on retro rides.. link here Mallory Park just gone bump... | Retro Rides Awesomefest was ran at night without a license which never really helped the cause? (according to a poster on the above link)
"Last month the company was successfully prosecuted by environmental health officials from Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. In August, the company was fined £2,500 and ordered to pay £23,000 costs after being found guilty of five charges of breaching noise level restrictions." From the Leicester Mercury - Awesomefest sadly was a big part of the problem as it rattled a lot of otherwise 'tolerant' residents cages. It still stands to reason that if you don't want to live in a noisy environment (despite the night-time noise only being that weekend AFAIK) you shouldn't live next to a race circuit. It doesn't excuse the poor judgement of Mallory Park management to run the late night drifting, despite it being totally brilliant - I'm sure in hindsight nobody would have wanted to jeopardise the future of the circuit for a few late night sessions. Its not a cut and dry issue, and clearly theres been a few PR hiccups that have allowed a very small NIMBY movement (which always exists and probably always has) to capitalise and increase momentum.
It's no where near that simple. I lived close by and have been following the parish council meeting minutes. Basically the new operators increased the number of operational circuit days with no permission, breaching the agreement with the residents. This and events such as awesomefest pissed the residents off to the point complaints were made. All the council has done is enforce the original operational agreement set out in 1985. It is a great shame but the problems are, caused more by greedy circuit operators than the residents.
Regardless of how its come about, its still a shame, we as a uk should fight for every single track, because to save one is easier then to build a new one..
Having read both sides of the story my opinion is that it's a shame the track is in such trouble, but at the same time they broke an agreement, and ran noisy events at night without a license. Without trying to be a know it all, the track operators doing that is the same as someone keeping a pub open all night without the proper license, you're going to piss the local residents off and get fined for doing it at the same time. That being said the last thing we need is a track going out of business, it's a shame they haven't thought out a solution that benefits both parties. To stick to an agreement written up in 1985 rather than put down a new set of rules that allow the track to remain a profitable business seems unfair.
This. Real shame, and they were doing it to survive rather than through greed, but the bottom line is that rules was broked.
It's always a shame to see a circuit going out of business, but I think that if your business model relies on you doing things you're not allowed to do in order to remain profitable, then it's basically a broken business model from the start. You wouldn't buy a pub if you couldn't make money without opening late without a late license. You can't then complain about the people who dobbed you in being open outside of your license hours. We're in a difficult time, economically, and it's inevitable that a certain number of businesses who were marginal to start with are going to be pushed under. It's a sad but inevitable fact of life. Nobody likes a NIMBY, but then just because you live near a race track doesn't mean you have no right whatsoever to some peace and quiet. There's a sad inevitability to the whole situation, which you can't help but feel could have been avoided had Mallory's management been prepared to engage a bit better with the local community to come to some sort of compromise.
was gutted to read this. not happy that a track has been shut down. regardless why it had had to do this.
A select few of the key members of the local commitee have zero inclination of any sort of compromise.. Things like the MX track and drifting were stopped to try and apease this but it still wasn't enough.. Booo Sad fact is the place is owned by a property company so ultimatly could end up becoming sold off for a housing estate...
My reference to them being greedy was in relation to them organising far more events than they were allowed to in the 1985 agreement. I am sure it comes back to rent going up ect. But if they had stuck to the number of operating noisey days were were allowed in the 1985 agreement there would be no problem. If they needed to exceed the number of days they should have negotiated it through the proper channels
It will be, I guess its worth more as development land than a "going concern" thats losing money though.
