Setley Pond OPEN for use with new FE rules

I am pleased to say that we have heard back from Forestry England. We had a couple of queries with their reply so we phoned them as we didn’t want to wait another week for a response to an email. The reason for the phone call was to resolve a couple of the problems we had, one of them was racing, which we explained was no different in the actual activity than just going up and sailing. As we still stand 2 m apart and social distancing doesn’t change at all. Please find below a couple of paragraphs from their reply:-

Apologies, yes your members can return up to six at a time but to comply with the government’s guidance, they will need to arrive as individuals and no organised group activities/races can commence just yet. I would also make you aware (although I expect you already are) that the forest ponds have been inundated with members of the general public in recent weeks and therefore, on a sunny day, your members will need to be mindful of this.

One thing that has come to light in the last couple of days is an ecological query regarding the condition of the ponds in the New Forest which is being followed up this week by our Ecologist and Natural England. At this point, I have no further news or even an indication that this will have an impact on the recreational use of the ponds, but I just wanted to provide you with this information early on. I will of course update you as I know more.”

NOTE: Please read the website section for more information on Possible health problems from pond water.

So yes we can go back to the pond under Government guide lines and groups of 6. Their main concern was interaction with the general public where they have had problems with them and their staff!! They asked if we could work with them and try not to have any disputes with the general public.

With regards to the Ecological condition of the pond I think we have just got to sit tight and see what comes of it. But we can not see that anything we do to the pond is any greater that one horse/cow relieving itself in the pond and all the dogs that swim in it.

Hopefully we will see approval to lift the 6 person limit from the Government soon.

Regards, David

Important – Please Read these Guidelines for Club Activities at the Pond