No more 'treasure hunts' allowed on council property

Geocaching has been welcomed by other councils as a boost to tourism, but Leisure Services don't want in on the action.

Geocaching is best described as a worldwide treasure hunt using handheld GPS devices. The caches themselves contain historical information about the sites where they are hidden as well as items that can be traded between geocachers.

There are 1,211,988 active caches and an estimated four to five million geocachers worldwide.

Up until the council's decision to ban the game from their sites there were around 50 caches in Lurgan, including Lurgan Park and Lurgan Town Hall.

One local geocacher told the 'MAIL': "It's all done very responsibly. Geocachers always ask permission before placing anything on anyone's land.

"I got into it because of the historical aspect. There's other councils who are activity promoting it. You'd be surprised how many people a geocache will bring to a site. The tourism potential is excellent, yet Craigavon decide to ban it."

He added: "The irony of a part of the Lurgan 400 celebrations was not lost on me. A treasure hunt to 'Find the Golden Goblet'. I trust that it was not secreted on council property, since if it was it will surely incur the wrath of the CBC Leisure Services committee."

A Council spokesperson said: "Council recently received a request to install a Geocache at Tannaghmore Gardens. This was the first official Geocache request Council had received and it was decided that this request and all future requests for Geocaches on Council property be declined.

"This decision was made with the interests of the public in mind in case the Geocaching is not used for its designed purpose or is abused in any way."