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South Lakes Wild Animal Park Safari Zoo 2017 news

Discussion in 'United Kingdom' started by Nisha, 1 Jan 2017.

  1. Nisha

    Nisha Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    The free entry promotion has been extended until 11th February 2017..

    ..however the park will not have a Zoo licence to operate from 7th January so how long this offer will really last remains to be seen. Interesting times ahead....
     
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  2. TeaLovingDave

    TeaLovingDave Moderator Staff Member 10+ year member

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    Interesting times indeed.....
     
  3. Shorts

    Shorts Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Maybe Gill's looking to argue he doesn't need a licence if he doesn't charge an entry fee :rolleyes:. Not that he'd be correct but since when's that stopped him doing things if he thinks he knows better?

    Personally my money's on him stepping back and either selling or leasing the zoo to owners of a new zoo licence (i.e. protecting his financial interests). Then again, history's shown that trying to second guess what's happening next at South Lakes is only marginally less pointless than trying to guess what was happening next at the (sorely missed) RSCC.
     
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  4. Farmer

    Farmer Well-Known Member

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    From what I gather two have applied for the licence, David Gill and Karen Brewer. we know David Gill cant get it and if as we understand it, under the Defra report under which i am led to believe the grant of the licence is guided. There is a condition, which states quite clearly,

    36 – Condition 39 – Management and Staffing Structure
    The Principal Environmental Health Officer reported that Condition 39 required that in order to comply with Section 10 of the Secretary of State’s Standards, a robust management and staffing structure must be in place to the satisfaction of the Licensing Authority, in order to allow a new licence to be issued. This new structure must include a competent, suitably qualified and experienced full-time Director (or Senior Manager) with day to day responsibility for the running of the Zoo, the ability and authority to make decisions independent of the owner (Mr David Stanley Gill), and must be fully responsible to the Licensing Authority for the conduct of the Zoo, all its on-site activities and its compliance with the Secretary of State’s Standards.

    Because as we know Karen Brewer is an employee of D G. also coincidentally she has the company called " Cumbria Zoo Limited" Surely Defra Condition number 39 excludes her from being granted the licence because of the quote below and is not suitably qualified or experienced because she does not hold any qualifications in zoo animal management. ? Also at this moment in time there has only been the application of an " intention for Zoo Licence" submitted. the key point being that as we ALL know the section that reads. "the ability and authority to make decisions independent of the owner (Mr David Stanley Gill) can and will never be implemented.

    Please correct me on this if im wrong.
     
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  5. zoogiraffe

    zoogiraffe Well-Known Member

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    You are not wrong,but yet again Mr Gill has said on facebook he is steeping down from the zoo,but then he has said that so many times and changed his mind,that I doubt many people believe it any more.He will never walk away unless it is taken away from him,so we will have to wait and see what happens in 5 days time!
     
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  6. Shorts

    Shorts Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    I'm no legal expert, and am unaware (and really don't have the inclination to know) of other conditions relating to the zoo licence, but I would point out that it's quite possible to be an employee of a company and still be "a competent, suitably qualified and experienced full-time Director (or Senior Manager) with day to day responsibility for the running of the company (Zoo), the ability and authority to make decisions independent of the owner". This situation occurs in many businesses including, I suspect, pretty much all of the FTSE 100.
     
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  7. alfiethetortois

    alfiethetortois Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    The road between Windermere and newly bridge closes tomorrow for three months. This will effect a lot of people who wish to travel to the zoo from south lakes. The proposed detour adds 20 mins to the journey.

    We visited this week and there has been some changes.

    A male and female lion have moved to the old Sri Lankan leopard enclosure.

    A huge fence has been erected by the old Avery separating gills house from the zoo. I'll try to add an image.

    A giant otter was seen in the otter enclosure. Not revolutionary but we've be not seen in months.

    It was very busy.
     
  8. TeaLovingDave

    TeaLovingDave Moderator Staff Member 10+ year member

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    Saw two individuals when I visited last week; I was quite surprised given the fact I knew they hadn't been seen by any Zoochatters for some time.
     
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  9. Kifaru Bwana

    Kifaru Bwana Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    4 days and counting .... (till lift down)!
     
  10. Farmer

    Farmer Well-Known Member

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    Well.... as of 12 o clock tonight the 7th of Jan, South lakes will have no licence at all and as such no insurance. Presumably leaving Barrow council and the Zoo jointly and severely liable in the event of any issues occurring, , not too sure of the implications there?? from what I believe the council are letting them stay open without a licence because the " notice of intention" has been lodged. Also with the Avian Flue there wont be ANY special measures done ie, foot bath, screened areas for all birds etc. Not too sure of the implications of this either? could anyone enlighten us on this plz? is this usual or routine in these types of situation? Barrow council are of course aware of the licence expiry and have left it open.
     
  11. Swampy

    Swampy Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    I am not sure anything can be considered usual or routine in these situations; I can't imagine they happen very often!
     
  12. Farmer

    Farmer Well-Known Member

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    The same zoo also has FOUR different names under companies House??????? The plot thickens but is it just a case of muddying the waters so the council just can't figure out what the heck is happening and just give the licence to get it off their books
     
  13. Farmer

    Farmer Well-Known Member

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  14. gentle lemur

    gentle lemur Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    I presume that an Inspector will have to pass the work that should have been completed properly and the relevant council committee have to authorise the licence, otherwise if anything dreadful happens (which Heaven forfend, of course) both the management and the Council might be liable.
     
  15. Farmer

    Farmer Well-Known Member

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    Yes that's what im thinking, but wouldn't it have been more prudent / cautious to close it until the issue of no licence was decided one way or the other? If anything were to happen before this decision is made, Im pretty sure local people wouldn't want to foot this bill in any way.
     
  16. Farmer

    Farmer Well-Known Member

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    UPDATE.........The zoo will stay open on its current licence under section 6 of the Zoo Licence Act because 2 days before the final date on the fifth of Jan DG put in an application so as such it runs on until the Licence regulatory committee meeting not yet planned. Not too sure of the legal issues on another application being received " after " the official closing date, and whilst the zoo is actually running open on an already extended time.
     
    Last edited: 9 Jan 2017
  17. bongorob

    bongorob Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    I thought Gill had been turned down from applying for a licence.

    Anyway as you said, he has missed the application date. Let's hope the council sort things out as soon as they can.
     
  18. Farmer

    Farmer Well-Known Member

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    No he didnt miss the date as he lodged an " intention to apply " although he knows that he cant be given the licence for numerous reasons that DEFRA have stipulated and a cost of £500, then his application for a licence was actually lodged on the 5th or 6th of this month with the expiry actually being on midnight of the 7th. There were 2 " intentions of licence applications" one week apart, first by DG then one week later from KB. So my thinking is with the LAST minute application from DG going in and as such extending the expiry, there will yet again be a week apart application from the one from KB.
     
  19. bongorob

    bongorob Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    If he will not obtain a licence he is just wasting his time applying.
     
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  20. Nanook

    Nanook Well-Known Member

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    I think Gill is wasting his time, and everybody else`s, full stop. The best thing they can do is give the licence to Karen Brewer and friends, she certainly can`t do any worse than Gill has done.