New Milton Advertiser 2nd Oct 2020

8 · Friday 2nd October 2020

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News

Theme park puts brakes on new season tickets

Pensioner hurt in car crash AN elderly woman was hurt following a two-vehicle colli- sion at a busy junction near Lymington. Police, firefighters and paramedics responded to the incident which took place at the junction of the A337 Milford Road and the B3058 Lymington Road at Everton around 2.45pm on Sunday. The casualty, a woman in her 90s, was trapped and had to be cut free by fire crews from Lymington and New Milton before she and one other person were assessed and treated at the scene by the medics. She was then taken to Southampton General Hospi- tal with what were described by a South Central Ambu- lance Service spokesperson as “potentially serious injuries”. Garage raiders flee the scene WOULD-BE thieves fled after being disturbed as they broke into a New Forest hotel’s garage in the early hours. Entry was forced to the outbuilding at Balmer Lawn Hotel, off the A337 Lynd- hurst Road in Brockenhurst, around 12.30am on Sunday. But police investigating the raid said that having been dis- turbed, the group of offenders made off without stealing anything. It is believed they drove away from the scene in a silver car. Those with information should contact Hampshire officers, quoting crime refer- ence number 44200374660, or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Moped rider ban RIDING a moped while twice the drug limit resulted in a New Milton man being banned from the roads for a year when he appeared before magistrates. Connor Richards (22), of Howe Close, pleaded guilty to having traces of class B sub- stance cannabis in his system in Gore Road in the town on 11th March, and having no insurance. The Southampton Bench fined Richards £40 and told him to pay £117 court costs.

SALES of new season tickets for Paultons Park have been suspended in response to the ongoing challenges posed by coronavirus. The tickets, priced at £169 for adults and children over a me- tre, were removed from general sale on Monday following an an- nouncement by the Ower-based attraction the previous week. Stephen Lorton, commercial director at Paultons Park, said: “Due to the ongoing operation- al challenges Covid-19 poses and the uncertainty of when restrictions and guidelines may be lifted, we have taken the dif- ficult decision to suspend the sale of new season tickets until further notice.” The move follows a similar decision by the Merlin group which runs nationwide at- tractions including Legoland, Thorpe Park and Alton Towers to cease the sale of its annual passes. Paultons Park closed on 20th March in response to the coro- navirus outbreak and reopened on 4th July following the lifting of government restrictions. However, due to a reduction in capacity, season ticket hold- ers were required to book visits online, with slots released every Friday morning for the follow- ing week. Many were left angry after the slots set aside ran out in hours, while the public was still able to

buy tickets for the same days. The park later allowed season ticket holders to visit on any day after 2pm without needing to book. It has also levied a contro- versial £1 booking fee for season pass holders planning to visit at peak times, which is then donated to the Southampton Children’s Hospital. The attraction will continue to allow all existing season pass holders to renew their tickets, and will also allow them to be purchased for children of pass holders who reach a metre in height. Mr Lorton said: “While this is disappointing for all, we feel it is the right decision and will allow us to continue offering current season ticket holders the expe- rience they have always loved at Paultons Park. “Existing season ticket hold- ers will be able to renew their season tickets as usual and we will continue to review the season ticket offering, once we can resume operating in a more normal environment.” The family-run park, which opened in 1983, covers 140 acres and has more than 70 rides and attractions including Ju- rassic-themed attraction Lost Kingdom and Peppa Pig World In 2019 it won TripAdvisor’s best-rated UK amusement park for the fourth year in a row – the only park to achieve this.

The scheme for 169 new homes (right) was approved in February

Plans for town police station to be reviewed

CONTROVERSIAL plans for the redevelopment of the dis- used police station site in the centre of Christchurch will be reconsidered by BCP Council. The council had been threat- ened with legal action over the February decision of its plan- ning committee to approve the redevelopment of the land, which includes the old magis- trates’ court, between Barrack Road and Bargates by Aster Homes, writes Josh Wright of Council reconsiders scheme following threat of legal action BY STAFF REPORTER

“ecological corridor” in the new development and the impact on its relationship with existing homes; and that it had “erred in law” by not considering mini- mum living space standards for the new homes. The letter continued: “On the basis of the grounds set out… the claimant is entitled to seek a judicial review of the coun- cil’s decision which will require the entire permission to be quashed and the entire decision remade,” the letter said. “This will cause the council to incur substantial extra costs. “Even in the (unlikely) event that the claimant is not suc- cessful or not wholly successful, the cost protection measures available to a claimant in a ju-

dicial review of this type will mean that the council must bear substantial costs.” A settlement meeting had been planned between the two parties but was cancelled shortly before it was due to take place with the council agreeing instead that the committee’s decision be revisited. Following this, Aster Homes has submitted amended plans with the council confirming these would be put before the committee for a new decision to be made “on a date to be con- firmed”. A spokesman for the council said this had been done “in the light of its own legal advice”, sought since the legal threat was made.

the Local Democracy Reporting Service. And it has now agreed to re- consider its decision, based, it said, on its “own legal advice” and “additional information submitted” in recent months. Although the application had been approved by councillors, final planning permission had still yet to be given with legal agreements not completed. In May the council was served with a judicial review pre-action protocol letter by an unnamed party, which alleged the deci- sion made by the committee was “unlawful”. It said the council had not complied with biodiversity pol- icies; that it had been incor- rectly advised on the planned

Paultons Park was shut from March through to July