THE OWNER of the New Forest Water Park believes he should be able to open the aqua park part of their site.

Mark Jury runs the water park with his two children Ben and Millie, and despite being able to run their kayaking and stand-up paddleboarding, they have not been able to open the aqua park – the inflatable assault course.

Mr Jury said: “New Forest Water Park is a family run business. We run various water sports from wakeboarding, stand-up paddleboarding, open water swimming and the aqua park.

“We have been told we cannot open the aqua park but we have been open for about a month with social distancing for the other sports.”

Mr Jury said the aqua park holds 290 people and usually at this time of year the park usually has 2,000 visitors a day.

“At the moment we about 50,” he continued.

“We can split our aqua park into four so aqua park A runs on the hour, B at quarter past, C at half past and so on.

“You can then open with a maximum of six people per aqua park.

“All booking and disclaimers online. No changing facilities, we’ll supply buoyancy aids with regular cleaning.

“We can’t even do that which to me is crazy.”

Last year the water park employed more than 50 people, however Mr Jury said only he and his two children are working there this summer.

“I feel aggrieved because we should have been able to open the aqua park.

“It is exercise, it is a kind of sport. If you can socially distance and prove it you should be able to open.”

A spokesperson for the department for digital, culture, media and sport said: "We recognise the importance of re-opening our indoor and outdoor pools as swimming is a great way for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy.

"There are concerns about transmission around points of contact like changing facilities, so we need to be fully assured that swimmers and staff will be safe.

“We are working hard with the sector on this and our ambition is for pools to begin to reopen from mid-July along with gyms and leisure centres."