TT23

Summary

The requester sought the results of a public consultation regarding proposed changes to the Isle of Man TT schedule from 2023 onwards. The Department for Enterprise disclosed the full consultation response, including a summary of 37 submissions and anonymized individual feedback.

Key Facts

• A public consultation on TT schedule changes ran from 14 June 2021 to 2 July 2021.
• The consultation received a total of 37 responses from residents and non-residents.
• All individual responses were anonymized in compliance with GDPR requirements.
• The Department plans to combine consultation results with a 2020 fan survey to determine future event sustainability.
• Respondents raised concerns about volunteer marshal availability and the impact on local businesses.

Data Disclosed

• 37 responses
• 19 IOM Residents
• 18 Non IOM residents
• 36 individual responses
• 1 business response
• 14 June 2021
• 2 July 2021
• 2020
• 2021
• 2023

Original Request

I seek the publication of the results of the consolation https://consult.gov.im/economic-development/consultation-on-tt-schedule-change-2023-and-beyond/ into the proposed changes to the TT schedule.

Data Tables (1)

Data Tables (reformatted)

Full Response Text

Department for Enterprise – Consultation Response

Consultation Response Isle of Man TT Races Schedule Changes from 2023 Onwards June 2022

Department for Enterprise – Consultation Response Contents. 1. Background. 2. Summary of Responses. 3. Next Steps 4. Responses Received. 1. Background. During the period which two TT events were cancelled due to COVID-19 (TT 2020 and TT 2021), the Department for Enterprise Motorsport Team took the time to conduct a number of focus groups with a range of officials, volunteers groups, competitors and teams. The Team also reflected on visitor data from previous event TT visitor surveys. 2. Summary of Responses. A public consultation was launched on 14 June 2021 and ran until 2 July 2021. The consultation received a total of 37 responses, broken down as follows:  IOM Residents – 19  Non IOM residents – 18  Responses submitted by individual – 36  Responses submitted by a business – 1
 Responses from IOM Residents which were:  Supportive of the proposed changes – 3  Not supportive of the proposed changes – 10
 Responses commenting on factors not part of this consultation – 8
 Responses from non-IOM Residents which were:  Supportive of the proposed changes – 2  Not supportive of the proposed changes – 0
 Responses commenting on factors not part of this consultation – 14 3. Next Steps The Department’s next steps are to analyse the comments, views and ideas provided through this consultation and then to add these to a broader piece of work completed in 2020.
This work comprised of a survey of the TT Fan themselves, both those who travel to the TT and contribute to our Islands economy by attending the TT and those local fans who wished to contribute. This survey was the largest work ever undertaken and attracted one of the largest responses to any Government survey to date. Alongside this and using the results of that survey, the Department held workshops with many of the different stakeholders of the event, including, teams, riders, marshals, businesses and other Government Departments to gain further understanding of the event and the possibilities.

Department for Enterprise – Consultation Response This combined work will be used by the Department for Enterprise to determine how the event might be developed into the future to ensure its sustainability in a world significantly changed by the recent pandemic.
4. Responses Received. All responses have been anonymised as required by the terms of the consultation and GDPR requirements. 1. UK resident, marshal Being a resident of England I am not entirely sure whether the consultation includes me but I'm replying in any case, Until 2020, my wife and I have enjoyed nearly 3 weeks over the full TT period and the same length of time over the Manx in August for the last few years. We both marshal and sign up for all the sessions. We also enjoy all the other aspects of both the TT/Manx such as Peel day, the beach races, touring the lesser visited places and just relaxing on our 'holiday' The last couple of years of marshalling have seen a number of days where a call out for volunteers to marshal has had to go out to cover a shortage. The racing/practice would not take place without a full complement of marshals. Looking at the 2023 proposals, what would happen to Peel day, or the Ramsay Sprint? What about Mad Sunday? which now seems to have morphed into a well organised charity ride around the TT course. If the weather/incidents conspired and the day really was a 9am to 9.30pm...followed by another similar day? 2 x12 plus hours at post....as a volunteer. We would have to be incredibly well organised to ensure we had sufficient food and drink in advance of both shifts and would have little time to rest between the days. The whole change feels to be a big push toward a TV audience. You may well regret that if the event cannot even start due to a lack of marshals on the ground. (My wife and I are retired so coming across for 5-6 weeks isn't annual leave, many fellow marshals use their precious annual leave, perhaps separately, their views as to whether they will still sign on for every session should be sought. You may then see what a mammoth task it is likely to be to get proper coverage)

1. UK Resident, marshal I would like to raise several concerns over the proposed changes which, I believe, would be detrimental to the TT Festival going forward. Specifically, I would like to highlight the following points:

Department for Enterprise – Consultation Response As a regular TT Marshal, I am happy to give much of my time and spend a not-insignificant amount of money to support the TT as I feel a sense of ownership towards the Festival continuing to future generations. My Father was a Marshal in the ‘60’s… I believe that the purpose of the TT is to benefit the local economy whilst offering a fabulous experience to those who choose to travel and see it, or watch it on TV if travel isn’t possible.
I believe that this benefit to the local economy would be in danger as the opportunity to interact with the hospitality and other businesses outside of the circuit and accommodation providers would become much more limited. For example, if I am watching or marshalling races every day, I have no time to visit places like TT Teas at Bride or the businesses in Castletown/Peel/Port Erin/etc. This channels most of the economic benefits to a limited number of businesses who ultimately have little incentive to share it. As a Marshal, I’m also on holiday and using some of my limited annual leave from work. Consequently, I and many others also like to enjoy time away from the racing. However, having races on every day means there might be difficulty providing sufficient Marshal cover as people will still only want to cover certain days or a certain amount of time. To illustrate, if you add up all the marshalling hours that people are prepared to ‘donate’ from their time, then split this across more events to be marshalled, there is less cover per event and it may mean that some races cannot be run if there aren’t sufficient Marshals available.
Closing the circuit every day will be more of a burden on locals going about their business and may undermine goodwill towards the event from those who are no longer able to benefit from the economic benefits of the TT. Example: If I run a shop in Castletown and see an uplift in takings during TT Fortnight I will be pro-TT. If the new proposals go through and I no longer see an uplift in takings, but also find it more difficult to get supplies or deliveries through, I will now be more anti- TT in future. This is the future I see for many business on the Island and it cannot be good for the long-term future of the TT. I hope you will see these points in the positive way intended. I really want the TT to continue to be a huge feature and benefit to the Isle of Man but I worry that these changes will only benefit a limited number of stakeholders and, ultimately, will diminish the TT’s value to the Island.

1. UK Resident, marshal Evening a.

As a visitor of the races for 9 yrs and now a marahal for the last 2 years I feel this schedule is just too pressured. No recovery days for the racers and pressure on the teams to have the bikes right. No Inbetween day to put at issues right . Also as a visitor I have enjoyed the days free to explore the island and sight the many attractions . Also if bad weather on the Saturday of senior race day does this mean it would not run? The final finale to the week would not happen at least on the Friday it has a second chance on he Saturday. As a marahal who does not get paid and carries out these duties for free I would not be prepared to marshal the extra days. This is also my holiday. I certainly think your other attraction on the island would suffer revenue loss.

Just my views

Department for Enterprise – Consultation Response

1. IOM Resident, Ramsey
   Dear Sirs

The rearranged schedule will have an adverse affect on retailers, workplaces, (rush hour) hospitality, events organizers etc. Plus more congestion more often re access to hospital etc. Many actually visit just for “the buzz”, not the racing. We also need Bushy’s Tent back on prom and NO Fun Fair.

To have no “e” bike racing is a completely retrograde step. I actually thought we would be world leading on this and it’s possibilities by now and that the TT was slowly moving into this century. Instead we seem to be going backwards driven by dinosaurs!

The TT has to end eventually. It is not sustainable in the long term without innovation and new thinking. (Race track for cars and bikes -Jurby) plus e bikes/cars, invention and moving forward.

More and more new residents will be moving here for many reasons, safety (road safety is a joke, need Mt Road speed limit), beauty, peace and tranquility. New generation of cyclists / walkers / keep fit /nature /wildlife enthusiasts, the numbers are steadily increasing and this is the future. Imagine their horror at TT fortnight, roads closed etc.

TT should actually be reduced not more! Please reconsider these plans. I still enjoy TT as many do but in reduced form as it slowly dies a natural death. Including STILL encouraging the desecration of our peat moors by trial bikers who frankly don’t have a clue about biology, geography or the planet, just instant gratification and ruining others land, not their own, not to mention the serious continuous loss of carbon. This simply cannot continue.

We should be working instead on the actual sense of place in sustainable world. Biodiversity, some of the worlds finest peat moors, our seas, wildlife etc not same old. Plus educating our children about this future, not becoming a dyed in the wool petrol head. Our culture is and could be so much more. No more removing our folk museum for the sacred cow the TT. The rest of world is moving on. We will be dead in the water.

1. IOM Resident, Douglas.
   Hello,

I am responding as an individual who lives on the course at XXXXX in Douglas.

I have a couple of comments in respect of the proposed alterations to the races.

1.) As a resident who doesn’t enjoy or partake in the races. I accept they’ll take over the island for one week a year as the price of living here so smile and wave and wait for the five day race week to be over as I’m assured economically it’s beneficial for us and can see other people get a lot out of it so I’m happy to sit down, grin and bear it for the greater good.

Department for Enterprise – Consultation Response

What you’re proposing is effectively extending it to a two week race week with three days where there might not be a break in the torrent of ananchronistic pointlessness.

In addition to the extended provisions for the Grand Prix that’s almost a month of the year now where we all have to sit and tolerate the niche hobby of an aging few on vehicles that will be mothballed in the next decade as the carbon neutral revolution really kicks in and non-electric vehicles cease production.

So in the short term, I don’t see how it generates additional economic benefit as the same tourists will come over for the same period and spend the same amount of money with additional expense from us seeking to push more events into the same time table without adequate infrastructure to do things like notify people when the roads are open and closed because the schedules changed at the last minute .

In the medium term, I guess I can see where you’re trying to generate more reach and content to build our tourist industry. But we’re not investing in the infrastructure to support it. Nor do the plans seem to provide for the people who live on the island to adequately avoid it that stimulate the other sources of economic activity. Normally I go out in the evenings and try to make the best of it. I’ll almost certainly go away for the fortnight once this comes in and I’ve never done that previously. I definitely won’t be alone and that has to at least partially negate the impact of what the additional racing is trying to achieve.

In the long term, we’re adopting and pursuing a strategy to reinvigorate an event that needs diversification into races such as the TT zero which I believe has now been cancelled as these will be the events of the future. Without that it feels like we’re knowing running into an economic cul de sac at speed.

2.) 3 contingency days in 14 is foolish. The weather will and has never even remotely cooperated that many days in June. And even if it did, there’s a declining number of people willing to be Marshall’s. There’ll be even less coverage once you ask them to do it for a full fortnight.

3.) the Saturday after senior race day is and always has been a writeoff because you’re either a.) hungover from senior race day celebrations or b.) on the way home to wherever you live in europe to go back to work on Monday. Flogging this horse will either not get the numbers you’re hoping for the Saturday or put off people from coming at all who aren’t able to attend the penultimate event because they have to get home.

4.) I’ve alluded to this in the above but what really annoys people and could alleviate a lot of the backlash from myself included is that A.) the access road is woefully inadequate when the roads are shut, expediting the project to widen and increase its capacity would be great and B.) there needs to be an app or a website that says where and when the roads are opening or shut and at which point and it needs to be well known and advertised. Most of the gripes from me and the non-TT friendly generally come back to not having a clue whether we’re going to be trapped in our homes for the duration or if there’s a reprieve without a network of spies and subscribing to a bunch of Facebook pages.

Kind regards,

Department for Enterprise – Consultation Response

1. IOM Resident, Douglas Dear
   Bit surprised the consultation doesn't include a response form; you may find analysis tricky. The basic idea that fans want to come at the weekend makes sense intuitively, but what does it mean in terms of room capacity? If accommodation is already full, will there be capacity to benefit economically from the change? The document focuses on TT road closures rather than the wider offering. On the closures themselves:

2. Racing on Mad Sunday should save lives at no significant cost to locals. The roads are closed for most of mad Sunday anyway, as emergency services deal with RTCs, and nobody drives if they can avoid it.

3. A 1pm Sunday closure instead of 12:30 would be better for church goers. It's OK for me, I walk to church, but a 12:30 closure means "get away by 11:30"
   Kind re

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