CHEPSTOW

The jewel In the Forest of dean has just been crowned for The National Diving & Activity Centre who have just had the green light from The forest of Dean District Council (FODDC) Planning Committee  who have given planning permission for the centre's future development. 
 
After 27 months of blood, sweat and tears the thumbs up has been given to turn the centre into one of the UK's finest diving and activity centre's putting the site firmly on the UK and the European map as a destination place to come.  We are in a very fortunate position now with support from Parish, District and County Council Members.

Our plan is unique to the forest and cannot be copied anywhere in the UK.  We will keep you all updated, with our members benefiting from sneak previews of the development and being the first to know what is going on over the project plan over the next 5 years. 
 
Watch this site or subscribe to e-shotlines for updates, plans and images of the shape of things to come.  We would like to say a big thank you to all of you who over the past 2 years who have supported us in terms of visiting the site and giving us the encouragement to push on.  We would also like to thanks all those of you who took the trouble to write a letter of support for the site over the past 8 weeks or so. 

The short to medium term plan is for the centre obviously involves a large financial investment, which, with consultation with the local planning authority, is scheduled to take upto a period of five years to potentially complete. Initially we are looking towards an outline planning application that will allow the site to develop a 122-bed hotel on site, Numerous Diving Lodges and Bunkhouse Accommodation and a complete new Modern Facilities Building.

We will be looking at bringing on the facilities building in the short term development of the site, which will include doubling the size of the shop, a shower block, classrooms, extended catering facilities and an upstairs viewing area looking over the side of the quarry. The images show views of the proposed facilities building.

We are going to work on the initial phases of construction of the site into what will probably become one of the foremost inland diving centres in Europe, and certainly in the U.K. as it has a range of depths from 0-9, 9-18, 26, 45, 50 and 80 metres, all of which are be marked with buoys and trapeze where appropriate and necessary.

The shallower waters have all you would expect in the way of attractions on the bottom, whilst the deeper waters have been kept clear of any possible obstructions. The site is well stocked with Perch and Pike.

We have conducted market research into your likes and dislikes, and arranged the centre's facilities to make life for you as easy as possible. The water's edge can be reached by walking, or using the two courtesy vehicles that will take you and your kit from the parking areas to the pontoons every 20 minutes or so.

The water is accessed by 144 metres of pontoons with kit trolleys available, and configured to give maximum access and exit points, and the least amount of swimming!

As you would expect, the centre has full rescue facilities such a rescue boat, first aid equipment, portable oxygen equipment and fully trained staff. The centre has classrooms for instructor and club use, training tank, shop, a brand new state of the art gas room, hire equipment, cafe, changing rooms and toilets, etc.

As the development and planning programme moves forward we will continue to inform you of the progress the site is making. If you have any comments or questions about the proposed changes to the site we would love to hear from you.

Opening Hours

Due to the ongoing site developments our opening days
will be changing in Jan 2007. Please see below for details.

01291 630850