I’m hoping to do an activation on G/SE-004 within the next couple of weeks and wanted to ask if anyone had any recent experience with seeking permission to operate. I notice that some operators have been approached and told that they should have asked before activating.
I know that this topic has been covered before on the reflector, but just wondering if anyone has had any experiences from the last year or so that they would like to share? At the very least I would like to show proof that I have asked for permission (perhaps by e-mail), even if I don’t get a response. It’s most likely that I would be carrying out the activation on a weekday morning.
I asked for and obtained permission via email last year and this. The address I contacted was qecp.enquiries@hants.gov.uk.
This year, they asked me to fill out a short form and email it in. I did so, even though it was more suited to group visits (e.g. school trips). Permission came back quickly, with a reminder that I would have to pay the usual car park charges
When me and my dad Tom @M1EYP activated Butser Hill G/SE-004 back in January 2019, we obtained permission by phoning the Queen Elizabeth Country Park office earlier that day and we managed to obtain permission. The reason for ringing than emailing was because I heard of numerous reports that Queen Elizabeth Country Park had stopped responding to emails requesting for permission. While on this activation, a lady who was walking her dog asked me some questions like some walkers do about what we were so I explained about SOTA, to which she then asked if we had permission and said that she works for the Queen Elizabeth Country Park. I confirmed that my dad spoke to someone at the Queen Elizabeth Country Park office earlier that day to which permission was obtained and all was fine. From this, it maybe best to ring up rather than email given that there’s no guarantee that your email will be responded to.
Many thanks for taking the time to share your experience of operating on Butser Hill. I had already sent an e-mail to the address that Ray provided before reading your reply, but if I don’t hear back in a few days, then I will definitely be giving them a call. I’m not planning to go until next week.
