Woodhill Sands Trust Newsletter - Resource Consent Update, Winter calendar and the GOLDEN TICKET!!
Dear Riding Community
We wanted to provide you with an important update regarding the recent interim decision from the Environment Court. The court has clarified that along with the two larger shows and the 20 shows featuring up to 245 horses, our venue can also operate on weekends with up to 50 horses each day. This development is positive news as it means that we won't face a complete closure of the venue for the balance of weekends during the remainder of the year. This is critical for our community.
The Trust is actively working to ensure that the type of activities allowed on weekends align with and support the interests of our riding community. The Trust’s objective is to create an environment that reflects what our community values. We have now submitted our updated conditions to the Environment Court and await their final decision. These were redrafted in consultation with the Council and our affected neighbors who have also submitted their feedback to the Environment Court. We will let you know of the decision as soon as we are advised.
We appreciate the many messages of support we have received. What is currently most needed is your participation at any of our competitions and training days. Please, come and use our community owned facility over the following months. Whether you're a seasoned rider or just starting out, we have something available for everyone.
On that note we are thrilled to have enjoyed mostly settled weather for our Autumn series. This series comes to a close over the next few weeks. Coming up in June, July and the start of August we are running our winter series. All our popular events will be back, Mini ODEs, Show Jumping, Show Hunter and Dressage. The calendar for these series is available on our website in the upcoming events section and can be viewed here These events are now live on Evo Events where you can enter these shows.
We are also excited to be launching a great fundraiser. We are holding a Golden Ticket raffle. The winning ticket will get free entries to any Woodhill Sands Event for an entire year (June 2024 till May 2025) for a nominated rider !! Yes a whole year!! This also provides for free ground fees for non-Woodhill Sands Events held at the venue. Tickets are $40 and there will only be 350 tickets sold. Tickets can be purchased directly from Evo Events by selecting a class number as your ticket number. You can also contact the team at info@woodhillsands.co.nz to purchase tickets.
Finally, the contract for management of the kiosk expired at the end of the summer season. Given the uncertainty around the way in which the facility will operate, and our need to focus on resolving the matters connected with the resource consent, the Trust decided to close the kiosk over autumn/winter and we will reconsider the position for next season. We have been able to arrange a coffee cart to start at the venue for shows from the 8th of June and apologise for the lack of onsite food and beverages recently.
We appreciate your ongoing support as we navigate through this process and the current challenging economic environment. We will continue to keep you informed of developments. Thank you for being part of our community.
Kind regards
Philippa Fourie
Chair, Woodhill Sands Trust
