Shooting news: Mayor in resignation calls over CLA Game Fair.

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Mayor in resignation calls over CLA Game Fair

Peter Jay, mayor of Woodstock, has called for the resignation of those responsible for managing traffic at the fair.

By Selena Masson

Wednesday, 04 February 2009

Peter Jay, mayor of Woodstock, the town near the site of last year’s CLA Game Fair at Blenheim Palace, has called for the resignation of those responsible for managing traffic at the fair.

This follows the publication of a report at a meeting held on 27 January reviewing the traffic congestion that caused gridlock in the town during the fair held last July.

The report, produced by five different organisations including Blenheim Palace, the Safety Advisory Group from West Oxfordshire County Council and The CLA Game Fair organisers, makes 15 recommendations, including more entrances and fewer single-lane restrictions.

The event attracted a total of 53,000 cars and Mr Jay wants those responsible for traffic management to step down.

He told the BBC: “The councils should acknowledge that there was an absolute disaster for the people of Oxfordshire and people visiting Oxfordshire.”

The report attributes the gridlock to several different factors, including the late arrival of exhibitors on the Friday morning and an accident on the A34.

A spokeswoman for The CLA Game Fair told ST they were disappointed to see the reported comments made by the mayor: “The meeting was very positive. It is regretted that the mayor was unable to attend, though it was well attended by Woodstock Council and the various other local councils and authorities, who accepted the apology made by The CLA Game Fair organisers, as well as the other organisations involved in the traffic plans for the part the show played in the traffic problems.”

Blenheim Palace’s John Hoy welcomed the report: “We have fully supported the
review process and are confident that a raft of measures and improvements can be introduced to ensure that the traffic, particularly on the Friday morning, runs more smoothly.”

www.gamefair.co.uk

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Comments

Ian

Thu, 5th Feb 2009 16:48:14

Something certainly needs to change! The traffic queues into the Game Fair were absolutely terrible. We arrived on the Friday and from the outskirts of Oxford to entering Blenheim took just over three and a half hours. And at the end of the day it took over an hour and a half to get back outside the walls again. The waiting was made worse when listening to the local radio station interviews with the organisers who seemed to be in denial of any wrongdoing on their part. Once inside the grounds the young traffic marshalls were doing their best, but they did not show any signs of having received training for their role, they had no sense of urgency or ways to speed up the entry process. It was obvious to every driver who arrived and was ushered to their space that more entrances needed to be opened up and that an 'orderly queue' of one vehicle behind the other was an exercise in futility. Please let's have professionals next time not amateurs. And toilets closer to the car parks for those that have spent many hours travelling and queuing. Oh and while I am at it, an emergency services presence would have helped. It was a very hot day as we all know, old and young people were trying to find shade, babies needed feeding, people were running out of bottled water. Emergency services support would have been gratefully received by many. There seemed to be a lot of police standing at roundabouts, why weren't they doing something to help? There were no shops to buy food or drink on the access roads, someone with a mobile shop could have made a fortune! However, I am pleased to say that we had a fantastic two days once we were within the Game Fair. We won't forget the traffic though and it has certainly made me think whether we will be attending this year.

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