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Go Ape
Go Ape Community Consultation

 

Go Ape High Wire Adventure Facility - your views.


Go Ape High Wire Adventure Facility - Pollok Country Park

Consultation

The consultation period for the above project is now closed.  The period remained open for a 6 week period, originally from Saturday 1st September until Monday 15th October 2007. This was extended for a further week until Monday 22nd October to account for the postal strikes. 

Following the public launch and meeting at the Burrell Collection on Saturday 1st September 2007 a webpage was set up on the Glasgow City Council website, with links placed in various points including the Parks, Land Services and Glasgow City Council home pages. This was reviewed continuously throughout the consultation, with regular efforts being made to widen the publicity of the consultation to as broad an audience as possible. 

Links were set up on the Youth Services webpage, and all secondary school head teachers throughout the city have been encouraged to bring this consultation to the attention of all teachers and pupils.  Also updated posters were placed in all local community facilities to remind local members of the public about the consultation and encouraging them to express their views.

In total, 237 responses were received to the consultation, both by post and e-mail.  The total number of positive responses was 199 (84%) and the total number of negative responses was 38 (16%).

The age range of respondents varied widely, with the majority of respondents (who listed their age) being in the range <17-24 years old (55%). 41% were between 25 and 54, and 4% were over 54.  Of those who listed their gender, 54% were female and 46% were male.

Background

Glasgow City Council conducted a strategic review of its parks and open spaces in 2005. This led to a number of recommendations aimed at improving the quality of experience for visitors to Glasgow’s parks, including the following specific key actions;
  • ‘Examine the viability and prepare plans for the franchising or leasing of suitable facilities’
  • ‘Identify opportunities for maximising the promotion of the active and healthy lifestyle agenda within Glasgow’s parks.

 

Family at Go Ape

 

Within this context a proposal has been put forward to introduce a new high wire forest adventure circuit within Pollok Country Park. This would be installed by the company ‘Go Ape’ and would be similar to facilities that they have installed successfully in other woodland sites throughout the UK.

The facility consists of a high rope forest adventure course consisting of approx. 35 obstacles including rope bridges, tarzan swings and zip slides up to 40ft above the forest floor. The aim of the Go Ape courses are to enable participants, aged 10 years+ to experience the thrill of the forest from a unique, challenging and fun perspective. The course will be built on the principles of high quality, low impact, environmentally sustainable development and to ensure the long term health of the trees and surrounding woodland.


Go Ape course     Go Ape course




A range of measures will be introduced to safeguard the long term health of the trees including the installation of adjustable collars to protect trees from damage and regular inspections by environmental consultants. There will be no vehicles allowed into the woodland as a result of this development, the existing car park adjacent the Burrell Collection will be utilised.

Safety is also a key consideration and a system will be introduced to ensure that the construction, operating procedures and equipment are independently inspected by competent engineers and by inspectors of ROSPA. Each participant is personally fitted with a safety harness by an instructor. Each participant receives a comprehensive safety briefing and demonstration prior to being allowed to go through the wider course.


Go Ape proposed site


Larger version of proposed site map (PDF 282k)


Further details relating to this proposal were submitted to Glasgow City Council’s Executive Committee on 16th February 2007.
You can view the committee report here (PDF 289k)

This proposal is now at the planning application stage and it is now time to consider the views of the public and local communities with an interest in  this development.


Further Information

For further information, please contact:

Glasgow City Council
Land and Environmental Services
Richmond Exchange
20 Cadogan Street
Glasgow
G2 7AD

Phone: 0141 287 9000
Fax: 0141 287 9059
E-mail: les@glasgow.gov.uk