Motorsport In Sa Under Threat - We Need Your Help

[bentwagon]

Hi - I pass this on from one of my rally racing friends. I plan to attend the meeting to support motorsport in the hills.

Hi Everyone.

You may or may not have heard that rally in South Australia is under significant threat at the moment due to some vocal residents (5 out of maybe 1000) who have convinced the council to not let us run rallies in some areas. This would mean the loss of some amazing stages such as Mawsons Row, Montacute etc.

CAMS and other bodies are working hard on this issue but Tim Possingham, a local Hills resident and Tarmac competitor has put together the following email as another attempt to make the councils sit up and listen. While he is focussing on Tarmac events, Gravel events are also under threat.

If you are an Adelaide Hills local, please please contact the council stating your support for rallies in your council area and consider coming to the meeting. There is an email template below. If you are not local but come to the hills to race, spend money and enjoy the area, please email them showing support of motorsport in SA for your own reasons. Address is [email protected].

Thanks all Claire.

From: Tim Possingham (SOON) [mailto:[email protected]]

Sent: Thursday, 10 May 2012 5:11 PM

To: 'Sean Bennett'; 'Hamish Gibson'; 'Ben Scott'; [email protected]

Cc: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; 'Darren Lee PRA'; 'Steve Glenney'; [email protected]; 'Ben Vincent'; 'Tom Gilbert'; 'James Redwood'

Subject: Please read this email carefully Re Tarmac Rally in the Hills

Dear Adelaide Hills Resident.

Please read below regarding an urgent and important issue that threatens to affect the future of the sport that we love dearly, tourism in our region and the freedom and vibrancy that makes the Adelaide Hills a great place to live.

Background:

Adelaide Hills Council has held meetings of late with RALLY SA, Adelaide Hills Tarmac Rally and Octagon (Targa)These meetings come off the back of Alexandrina Council’s harsh motorsport stance and the fact that a small number of Adelaide Hills Residents have protested against Tarmac Rallies in the region. The meetings have been attended by an extremely vocal group of 6 residents (2 of which are from Mt Barker Council area). The group of residents have been described as “hurling abuse” at councillors and Rally Organisers. Despite the fact that they are unruly and out of order, the councillors are intimidated and as a result, swayed by these people. As I understand it, two councillors who were pro-rally had a changing of mind on the night of the last meeting, mainly due to intimidation.The fact that there are no residents attending that are pro-motorsport makes for a meeting that is overwhelmingly negative towards motorsport in the hills.State Government has communicated its pro-rally position to The Adelaide Hills Council and I believe that this communication has been rather firm in nature.From what I have heard council is probably looking for a way to appease State Government and the majority of residents and put this to bed and move onwards. A show of support for Tarmac Rally Events is required to give council the reasoning it needs to put this to bed.Octagon sent out 1700 letters to residents affected by Targa Road Closures asking those who had serious concerns about the Targa Adelaide Event to contact them to discuss their thoughts. There were 5 responses. We clearly have the majority .

Council just needs to see it in the form of people attending these meetings and some communication to council directly (email and postal letters).

Your Attendance is required:

The next meeting is on Tuesday 22nd May in Stirling at the Council Chambers Behind Coventry Library , Stirling. 6.30pm sharp.Please attend with friends and other rate-paying family members who may want to help strengthen our efforts. Your Email is greatly appreciated:Sending the email template below to [email protected] would be extremely helpful in amplifying our message.

Feel free to add to the email or write your own.

Attention Peter Peppin

CEO, Adelaide Hills Council

Regarding Tarmac Rallies Held in the Adelaide Hills Council Region. As a ratepayer and resident in the Adelaide Hills Council area, I wish to voice my concern at the prospect of a reduction in the number of, or complete removal of tarmac rally events held in the Adelaide Hills Region.

I wish to notify council of my position as a resident wishing to see these types of events secured for our region, for many years to come.

Name:

Address:

Your Written Letter is invaluable:

The Adelaide Hills council has only received 8 negative letters related to Tarmac Rally in the Adelaide Hills (over a 5 year period). Let’s send 3 times that amount in the lead up to the meeting on the 22nd.Copy the text from the email template above, add to it if you wish, print and post it directly to:

Attn Peter Peppin

CEO Adelaide Hills Council

PO Box 44. Woodside SA 5244

IMPORTANT NOTES:

We need to maintain a diplomatic and orderly position that conveys clear-mindedness, civility and community responsibility whilst expressing our desires for continued and possibly increased Tarmac Rally and Motorsport Related Tourism Events in the Adelaide Hills. Any conflicts that may arise at the meeting on the 22nd should be avoided. Do not get into ANY heated debates with people that have an opposing view.Quite possibly, the Courier newspaper will be covering the meeting and we need to be mindful that we only want positive press related to our attendance and our position overall. Regards, Tim Possingham

[bentwagon]

Extract taken from Facebook

Targa Adelaide is go! 10 councillors voted in favour of running it, more than 60 rally supporters there to witness it. But all future events hinge on the upcoming council policy on rallying...

Was ROSA ever in danger considering it is run almost entirely on rural and forest roads and not through the residential Hills areas?

a lot of the council roads for RoSA are within the AHC area. From what I understand, AHTR was approved to run by AHC but RoSA was knocked back, so there will be some stages that have been run for the last few years that won't be able to this year.

Yes RoSA got screwed... AHTR just got up (by one vote) at the same meeting RoSA was knocked back... Now CA gets the go ahead, which is great for the sport, but you have to wonder how the decisions are fair as RoSA is IMO even less of an impact on the community...

[N1GTR]

Glad to hear that for once in this country, the minority did not get preference.