Gloucestershire Echo

Campaign launched to get racegoers to behave better

- Robin JENKINS robin.jenkins@reachplc.com

CHELTENHAM Racecourse bosses are hoping to see better behaviour from racegoers making their way to and from Prestbury Park at The November Meeting.

Extra staff will be on duty, mainly in Evesham Road, following complaints that alcohol-fuelled punters were urinating in Pittville Park and abusing motorists at last year’s festival in March.

The additional staff from the racecourse will be in place on Saturday November 12, the middle day of the three-day event, as part of a new ‘Love Our Turf’ initiative.

It seeks to strengthen the relationsh­ip between the racecourse and the local community.

With 30,000 racegoers expected to attend on Saturday, the racecourse is seeking positive behaviour from people before, during and after the event.

This Saturday will be used to trial the initiative ahead of The Festival in March, when ‘Love Our Turf’ will be launched in full.

Racecourse bosses, working alongside stakeholde­rs including Gloucester­shire police and Cheltenham BID, are keen to put key elements of it in place now to ensure lessons can be learned before March when around 260,000 racegoers are expected to attend over four days.

Saturday’s focus will primarily be on Evesham Road. At The Festival, the campaign will extend to other recognised arrival routes.

Each of the recognised routes to and from the racecourse will be promoted with the use of wayfinding ushers, enhanced street cleaning, more bins and increased toilet facilities.

Love Our Turf will eventually aim to enhance the whole journey from the town to the racecourse for those arriving at the track on foot, with future provision of street entertaine­rs and selfie locations.

Andre Klein, Cheltenham Racecourse’s Community Engagement Manager, said: “We are really excited about this new initiative and know we will learn plenty from our experience on Saturday that we can take forward to March, to ensure that the negative impact our events have on the community are massively reduced and just as importantl­y that our racegoers journey are significan­tly improved.”

Heath Gunter, chief executive of Cheltenham BID, said: “We are fully supportive of the campaign and we are looking forward to seeing the positive impact it has on the town centre during the November meeting and The Festival week.”

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