Southwell Racecourse : Evening meetings are given the go-ahead

Evening racing could come to Southwell Racecourse from 2019 after it was given the go-ahead to put up floodlights.

Members of Newark and Sherwood District Council approved a proposal for 55 floodlights at the venue.

The racecourse said construction could begin in 2018 and floodlit racing start the following year.

It wants to stage up to 20 evening all-weather flat meetings under lights each year.

Mr Mark Clayton, chief executive of the racecourse, said the company was delighted planning permission had been granted.

“Subject to future fixture allocation, the current intention is for construction to begin in 2018 in time for racing under floodlights to start at Southwell in 2019.”

If the additional fixtures are approved by the British Horseracing Authority, Southwell would become the fifth floodlit racecourse in the country, joining Chelmsford, Kempton, Newcastle and Wolver-hampton.

The lighting columns would be between 21metres and 30metres high and will be built around the racecourse, grandstand, paddock and car parking areas.

The LED lights would allow racing to take place until 9.30pm and have been designed to focus light on the racecourse and not elsewhere.

'Good for Southwell and useful for tourism'

Mrs Penny Rainbow, who represents Southwell on the district council, said: “The racecourse is an established, well-run and successful business.

“It is good for Southwell and it is useful for tourism because people often spend half a day at the races and half a day at Southwell.”

Planning committee member Mrs Maureen Dobson said: “I do think this organisation has been first-class over many years and we have had no complaints other than from the odd traffic spill.

“My village [Collingham] is surrounded by lights, including at the tennis club and the football club, and providing you have the right non-polluting lights they do not spill out anywhere else.”

District council officers, who supported the application, said the floodlights would have little impact on the landscape.

They said large electricity pylons at Staythorpe Power Station already had a greater impact on the landscape.