Hundreds plead for Newbury Racecourse Christmas carnival to go ahead

More than 500 people have signed a petition pleading with West Berkshire Council to rethink its refusal to allow a Christmas Winter Wonderland to go ahead.

Newbury Racecourse has pledged to fight back – going back to the drawing board to figure out another proposal.

Its bid for the six-week event was thrown out by the council last night after dozens of racecourse residents objected to it on the grounds of noise and disturbance.

But their objections have now been countered with a petition set up by other residents in the area who support it.

Racecourse spokesperson Harriet Collins said: "We are obviously very disappointed about the council’s decision to refuse the planning application of our proposal for the Great Christmas Carnival here at Newbury Racecourse, especially given the planning officers recommendation to approve for a one-year event.

"We felt this was an exciting event for Newbury and its community and the planning application followed an extensive consultation period with our residents and the wider local community.

"To address the concerns raised by the council and local residents during the process, we subsequently altered the planning application from initially seeking a five-year planning permission to a one-year trial event and also provided detailed proposals around noise and traffic management.

“We still firmly believe in the concept of a Christmas event here at the racecourse and the economic and social benefits it will bring to Newbury and the surrounding area and we will now take some time to re-visit our proposal and seek a meeting early next week with the local authority to understand how we might be able to address the challenges raised.”