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VangeRover
9th February 2018, 02:45 PM
Hiya, I have probably gone about this completely the wrong way but I have been in contact with various people in Basildon Council by email regarding gaining permission for placing geocaches in Basildon Parks and gardens since mid October.

At the start, I sent an email to the Parks “help desk” and received a quick NO to my request. I went back stating that a large number of national bodies and the majority of Essex Councils allowed geocaches to be placed on their property as well as the benefits so what reasons would they have, to decline permission for Basildon. The “help desk” realised that they were out of their depth so told me that they were moving the request up the chain but inadvertently gave me the name of the assistant manager. I contacted this person directly with copies of previous correspondence but never received a reply for a month until 30/11/17.

When he replied, he said that he had had a brief conversation with his manager and wanted more information. So I went back with a link to an Essex activity site giving information on Geocaching and listing all the Essex Councils and organisations such as the Essex Wildlife Trust that allowed Geocaching. Now what with Christmas and family illness in the New Year, I haven’t followed it up but today, I have sent a reminder.

In the past couple of days, I have learnt the name of the Parks Manager. Now this is probably a master class in how not to do things, so I’m now asking for advice. Should I leave it a week and if I hear nothing, contact the Parks Manager or say sod it and go straight to the Chief Executive of the Council with details of what has gone on so far?

For those in a similar position to me and thinking of contacting their Council, what should have I have done initially or should I have contacted the GAGB asking them to to act on behalf of myself and other local geocachers?

best wishes
Terry aka VangeRover

VangeRover
13th February 2018, 10:40 PM
Just want to say that I got a response yesterday that they were happy to allow Geocaching but I need their response to be a bit more formal. I asked if he was happy with a statement - “ placed with the kind permission of ———————- of the Basildon Borough Council Parks Department.” Is this over the top?

Antreid
14th February 2018, 11:43 AM
You probably don't need to ask for permission to say that, as long as the individual represents the council and knows that it's permission for placing, not just caching.

One step further would be for us to get a map of the places that they are granting permission for. They can include places that are banned and intermediate - places that require we check with them. THAT would be well worth getting, but we (you and us) would have to do all he hard work there to draw the map and suggest it for approval by them. Councils just dot have the resources to do that sort of prep work at the moment.

VangeRover
3rd March 2018, 12:18 AM
Hiya, I specifically used the phrase “placing a geocache” and asked permission to place them in Basildon Borough Council Parks and Open Spaces. I won’t go back as I don’t want to over-complicate it. The chap giving permission didn’t want his name used but said I could use “Basildon Borough Council Parks Department.”
All I have to do now is to find the time to put a series in Wat Tyler Country Park. :-)