Frome & District Pistol Club - FDPC.
New Range – Successful appeal !!!
Just
in case you’ve not been paying attention for the last 9 years !!!! ……. the club, together with Andy Hobbs, and Brian James (the land owner) have
been fighting a battle to get a new range complex on land between Wanstrow and
Leighton. The site is ideal – well shielded and remote, yet with good
access from the main A361. It will provide a permanent home for the club and meet
our practice and competition needs.
Our
planning submission was subject to a number of incarnations, as we modified it
to appease both planners and locals. However, despite our compromises, the application
was refused last year, on the grounds of potential noise. Knowing our case was well
justified (backed by strong empirical evidence) we took the application to a
Public Inquiry appeal. That appeal has just concluded that our application
should be allowed – hence our new range plans will progress.
I
produced the first document for this planning application on 4th March
2000; a long battle by any means. However, now we can proceed to the next stage
– construction – which may take a couple of years to complete.
Then, we’ll have one of the best facilities in the South-West. The site
will include 29 x 50M gallery rifle points; a 25M indoor range plus club-house;
9 x 100M fullbore, plus a skeet layout. Shooting can take place Tues / Thurs /
Sat / Sun, with some limitations on shotgun and full-bore. As with Gurney
Slade, it is envisaged that Sun will be the normal club day, with mid-week
opportunities for the odd few to conduct zeroing / practice. The indoor range
will be allowed to operate 10:00 – 22:00 seven days per week.
There
was (and probably still is) some opposition to our scheme. However, the locals
are our future neighbours, and we should do everything we can to minimise any
impact, provide information and work with them to address concerns. Whilst this
was a battle that we won, that battle is over and we should be magnanimous in
that victory. We will have to work hard to
become part of that community and we should seek to be inclusive where we can.
That said, once we start shooting, I hope that the locals will agree that their
concerns were unfounded; we spent a number of years in Gurney Slade without a lot
of the residents knowing there was a shooting range on their doorstep.
This
was a long, hard battle, and a team effort from the club, Andy, Brian and our
professional help (Architect, sound expert, legal team etc). We’ll
continue to work hard to provide the club with a future home – please ensure
you continue to support us and take a professional approach with our future
neighbours.
Thanks
- Ashley
PS
- For those of you who have not seen the ruling – you can download it here.
Please send me an e-mail if you
have any comments