Green Party parliamentary candidate Daniel Wilson has urged the Jockey Club to play their part in helping combat the environmental challenges the Cheltenham Festival presents.
The biggest event in the horse racing calendar begins on Tuesday with over 250,000 people expected to visit Cheltenham during the week.
“You’ve got an awful lot of people travelling to the town,” began Wilson.
“More flights coming into the airport, an increase in traffic and a significant burden on transportation infrastructure. Of course, that comes with environmental consequences like noise and air pollution.
“We’ve got other issues as well like littering and waste management which won’t necessarily benefit the town. If you walk around early in the morning after a heavy night, you’ll be able to see the bomb site left in the town centre.”
Wilson was quick to offer some solutions to these issues, noting that the Jockey Club need to play their part.
He continued: “A lot of it comes down to car parking for instance. Could the racecourse be stimulating people to avoid using cars and instead use public transport?
“From a transportation perspective, do we need people flying into Cheltenham? That’s certainly something I’ve not heard much about from the Jockey Club in terms of what their plans are to improve transport links to and from the racecourse.
“In terms of waste and rubbish, I think they’re doing quite a bit this year in terms of extra bins and public conveniences because this has been an on ongoing problem.”
Wilson also stressed that the impacts go far deeper than simply on an environmental level. Last year, the police reported their “busiest week ever”, with residents of Cheltenham undoubtedly feeling the impact of this.
“You find that the poor behaviour that comes with heavy drinking makes the look and feel of the place not particularly nice, especially for women,” furthered Wilson.
“There’s a lot of misogynistic behaviour from poorly behaved men who just feel that they can do what they want.”
In an attempt to mitigate some of this behaviour, the council have launched the ‘War on Wee’ campaign that aims to prevent the issue of public urination during Cheltenham Festival.
Wilson has criticised some aspects of the campaign, calling for wider action to curb the overall behaviour of race-goers.
He said: “I think the whole campaign is slightly misplaced.
“You can address a lot of these issues without making it a war on wee. The repellent paint is just a bit of a gimmick. Let’s face it, if you walk from the racecourse down into town, it’s mostly through parkland. You’re not going to start painting trees and bushes with this repellent paint, right?”
Finally, Wilson touched on his position on animal welfare regarding horse racing.
He said: “The more that the Jockey Club and trainers can do to protect the horses, the better. I’m not saying that we should ban horse racing. I’m saying that the horses should be looked after to ensure we avoid things like exhaustion.
“I know trainers who absolutely love their horses. Of course, they don’t want to see the horses suffer. I don’t think anyone thinks like that.”
With the action due to get underway at 13:30 tomorrow, all will be hoping that every horse can make it through the week unscathed. The same could also be said for Cheltenham itself, with over 250,000 visitors expected to descend on the town in the coming days.
