Chessington Zoo Chessington - Future Plans

Regarding Chessingtons relations with the council and licencing body , they have had a history of "poor relations" especially with the planning department in particular. Certain councellors have always been against Chessingtons sprawling developement , whilst others have been supportive. This goes back many years , I recall many instances where developement on Winnie Hill (the land owned by the zoo to the rear) had been attempted and re-attempted , this was a constant battleground between the zoo and the council , aswell as a collective of local residents who also added their two-penny-worth. The licencing body have repeatedly tried to segregate the animals from the rest , which to a point was agreed by the Chessington management , however much of what had been recommended by the licencing body had been disreguarded. It all depends upon how these recommendations are given , all have a time scale and are given a higher or lower prioirity depoending on various conditions. It is quite possible for a zoo to "wriggle out of" these in some instances, and this has definately occured at Chessington in past years. Therefore they still have relatively poor relations with the council and licencing body even today which might explain some of the issues that have arisen. I have to say that Chessingtons veterinary record has , especially in the last twenty years or so, been superb.
 
ERIBECA 39 said:
. It all depends upon how these recommendations are given , all have a time scale and are given a higher or lower prioirity depoending on various conditions. It is quite possible for a zoo to "wriggle out of" these in some instances, and this has definately occured at Chessington in past years. Therefore they still have relatively poor relations with the council and licencing body even today which might explain some of the issues that have arisen.
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Interesting summation. I think the Gorilla enclosure/situation has certainly been one of the main issues which has emerged from recent inspections, and it still seems 'ongoing'.

I have always thought the overall care and condition of animals in the collection is as good as anywhere- though housing has sometimes been far from ideal.
 
One other very good reason for maintaining animals on the site is simply because the "rides" etc are closed for the winter months and the entrance fee is reduced as the park reverts to being a zoo for the winter period. Thus providing a reasonable income for the park in what otherwise would be a very quite time. Most "zoo people" tend to visit Chessington at this time understandably.
 
ERIBECA 39 said:
One other very good reason for maintaining animals on the site is simply because the "rides" etc are closed for the winter months and the entrance fee is reduced as the park reverts to being a zoo for the winter period. Thus providing a reasonable income for the park in what otherwise would be a very quite time. Most "zoo people" tend to visit Chessington at this time understandably.
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I don't know how many years Chessington have operated the winter zoo opening period, but I don't think they have always done this. Also it is only weekends and the school holiday periods during the winter that they are open- other days they are closed until their season starts again. But yes, it must produce some revenue at this quiet time of year.
 
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Pertinax said:
I don't know how many years Chessington have operated the winter zoo opening period, but I don't think they have always done this. Also it is only weekends and the school holiday periods during the winter that they are open- other days they are closed until their season starts again. But yes, it must produce some revenue at this quiet time of year.
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Yes, they have only done this since developing into primarily a "theme park". I was always told that there was a "requirement" to keep animals on the site , this could have originated from Goddards days ,and could have been written in the deeds of the estate? But that is just my speculation.
 
ERIBECA 39 said:
One other very good reason for maintaining animals on the site is simply because the "rides" etc are closed for the winter months and the entrance fee is reduced as the park reverts to being a zoo for the winter period. Thus providing a reasonable income for the park in what otherwise would be a very quite time. Most "zoo people" tend to visit Chessington at this time understandably.
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The zoo only periods are are a relatively recent recent addition to the Chessington calender, 2006 onwards although with the development of the sea life centre there was a significant hike in the zoo only admission price.

Like John I have in depth knowledge of the workings of Chessington having spent 10 years there, there is a genuine desire both within the zoo team and park management team to promote the collection and move it forward, but as with large organisations these are restricted to five year plans etc, and moving goal posts such as economical climates and so forth.

A big problem with with the theme park struture (or at least as i wa taught during a management couorse during tussauds days) is the time periods they expect new attractions to pay for themselves in to be considered a success or failure, depending on the attraction and amount spent this can be 3, 5 or 7 years.

Given Chessingtons guest numbers you would think that this is easily achievable but lets say this is purely a fictional that chessington spent £5 million on the new gorilla enclosure, they would expect that to pay for itself in increased gate figures, PR, merchandise sale etc within lets say a 5 year period, however while over 75% of visitors (according to the last survey I saw which is a couple of years old now) viewed the animal attractions a significant chunk of these where either a) via the 'safari skyway' monorail or during full opening being allowed into the zoo area at 9:30 prior to the containment gates allowing access to the rest of the park at 10:00 being opened.

There is a reluctance to commit a big budget to an attraction that some people do not have the belief will recoup the money spent on it, which must be causing a big headache to the zoo managmet that just want the collection to thrive.

Lets face it for the over all space it covers ( currently if all grouped in one area perhaps 7 acres) it has a great stock list and breeding record and should have a great future.
 
Thanks easytigger,

It more or less underlines my concerns re. the relationship wildlife park - entertainment facility. I assume the zoo management side is more than sincere to develop the park and go beyond.

What bugs me most is that in order to allow a facility to thrive you have to have it flourish first without the required investment to upgrade the site, the exhibits and animal collection and make it into a Masterplan add-on to the entertainment side it needs investment first and foremost. The facility will only recoup that cash in the long-run by increased attendance, visitor entry and frequency of visits. :confused:
 
Just to add to this a personal anecdote of what the mind set of the upper management was prior to Merlin. The person directly above and in control of the zoo department made a comment at a planning meeting for a children zoo development that wouldn't it be a good idea to put the rabbits with the ferrets! :eek:

This demonstrates the kind of problems that the collection had at this time.

However as I have the opinion that judging by the Sea Centres animal collections this group appears maybe more style over actual zoological substance; could I be really unkind and say should they be called 'Mac' Aquariums as they seem to operate on the same lines as a fast food restaurants.

But this is not isolated situation as you see more and more in many UK zoos these days, i.e. the insidious and vacuous hand of corporate values that I for one do not think sits well the ethos of any modern zoological collection of any real value. However as these places are more or less run by accountants with shorterm returns on investments - as mention by Easytiger - it should come a no surprise.

After all, many of the companies are own by investment bankers *with no interest or passion in the core business values of the companies they acquire but only a turn around over maybe five or at best ten years to make the books look good and sell the business on to the next investor. And this is precisely what occurred in the recent history of Chessington. Moreover, bear in mind Chessington did not start life as a theme park but a private animal collection, aka Chessington core business was animal display.

Although, in fairness to Merlin they are a huge improvement on the previous owners as having an actual core business that revolves around animal display so as I have said elsewhere I am hopeful of postive improvements.

* This is of course not just the situation with some zoos in the UK but many other business now being owned by people with the least interest in the original core values of the business they have acquired.
 
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I have some past personal experience of Chessington in that , in the Pearson days , my brother-in-law had quite a senior position in the Visitor Services side of the operation .
I got the impression that the Zoo was considered an important and respected part of the overall operation . All new management recruits spent a day on the Zoo doing what we now know as ' keeper for a day' as part of their induction .
 
Bele said:
I have some past personal experience of Chessington in that , in the Pearson days , my brother-in-law had quite a senior position in the Visitor Services side of the operation .
I got the impression that the Zoo was considered an important and respected part of the overall operation . All new management recruits spent a day on the Zoo doing what we now know as ' keeper for a day' as part of their induction .
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An interesting point. I worked for both Pearsons (as a consultant) and Tussuads (in zoo management) and actually consider that the zoo had a better standing with upper management during the ownership of Pearsons. I remember a Tussaud manager bitching about all the 'unnecessary' staff and costs Pearsons used to utilised and how good they (Tussuads) were - basically cutting everything to the bone. That for me spoke volumes. The sad thing is that Tussauds had aspirations to be Disney but actually ran the place on a Micky Mouse budget. :D
 
Head Keeper

Chessington are now advertising for a Head Keeper and with the advert they mention:

"We’re about to add a Gorilla extension, a Serengeti Plain and a Lorikeet walkthrough"
 
Glad to hear further confirmation(?) that these projects are really going to happen soon.
 
bugs said:
Interesting article on the future of Chessington:
CoasterForce :: View topic - CoasterForce World Exclusive from CWoA
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Very interesting article. Themeing areas as sections of the world is not a new idea but it sounds a good. Disney did it first, I think.

Interesting integrating the animals within these areas something that the Zoo Inspectors in previous years had strongly objected to in inspection reports. Moreover, are the animal just going to be a bit of 'set decoration' to enhance the rides?
 
I have heard that they will be getting sitatunga, oryx and zebra for the savannah exhibit. What kind of oryx will they be getting? Scimitars I prosume?
 
They have been 'totally changing the way animals are involved at chessington' since creepy caves, 'trail of the kings', the monkey and bird garden and creature featues and beyond.
This is a good thing, what John is saying is that in previous inspections as part of the zoo licensing requirements, the inspectors expressed concerns that the animals were being disturbed by the noise of the rides, and suggested some changes, such as moving the meerkats away from their old enclosure opposite 'creepy caves', but some ideals have shifted, i.e. the lory enclosure reasonably close to the re-painted billys whizzer and bash street bus that was beanoland, a few years ago that would have been a definate no no, but now things are softening, which should be good for chessington, I've said before it has an amazing stock list for what is really a small faclility, and I'm sure it has a great future
 
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