Course Design
Location of a racecourse
Racecourses have to be located carefully. What should be factored into your decision on where to build the racecourse?
Closeness to towns and cities
Many racecourses are located near to towns and cities so that they can draw upon a local population of people for their custom. Yet many racecourses are also situated in rural areas; they are able to attract customers from a considerable distance. One benefit of locating a racecourse in a rural setting is that land can be easier to obtain than in a developed and crowded area such as a city.
A racecourse such as Beverley in the East of Riding of Yorkshire would tend to attract customers from a wide area – or ‘sphere of influence’ – including Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and County Durham. A race such as the Grand National would attract customers from all over Britain, Europe and beyond.
Infrastructure
Infrastructure refers to the networks, links and facilities that are needed for modern life and business. For example, access to good motorways, water, sewerage, gas and electricity services, good telecommunications including broadband, and transport links such as railways and bus services. Like all businesses, racecourses need to be located close to good infrastructure to secure both access and provision, and the best infrastructure tends to be located in towns. Sometimes, racecourses are located near to ‘rural towns’, and they try to get the best of both worlds by being placed in the countryside but with access to roads, rail and good supporting services such as bus and telecommunications.
Impact on the environment
All planning and construction needs to be done in a careful and sensitive way, and this includes careful consideration of any likely impact upon the environment. The course will need to be designed so that it looks good and also looks and feels part of the local community. Planning or building regulations will also be important because planning permission must be granted by the local authority.
Additional traffic congestion around the racecourse needs to be planned for, as well as how the racecourse will deal with any litter, recycling and so on.
Cost benefit analysis
A process called ‘cost benefit’ analysis is likely to be undertaken to identify and measure all of the potential costs and see if they can be balanced against future benefits, e.g. job creation, income creation, and provision of community services such as a gym based at the racecourse.
A racecourse, like any business, will only be set up in cases where the future benefits are likely to exceed the costs.