PLANNING chiefs are to visit the site of a proposed clay pigeon shooting club on farmland near Warrington before deciding if the development can take place.
More than 350 individual objections have been received from residents of Rixton, two protest petitions have been signed by 269 people and there have been further objections from Rixton-with-Glazebrook Parish Council, Birchwood Town Council, the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England, Warrington Nature Conservation Forum, the borough council’s natural environment officer, Risley Moss Action Group and Woolston Eyes Conservation Group.
A number of borough councillors have also lodged objections.
The plan involves a change of use of land at Prospect Farm, Prospect Lane, Rixton, for use as a clay pigeon shooting club, with clubhouse and associated parking spaces.
There would be 10 timber acoustic shooting enclosures, 10 timer air rifle enclosures and five archery enclosures.
According to a report by planning officers, the site is already being used for clay pigeon shooting which can be carried out on 28 days in a year without the need for planning permission.
But a number of timber structures and mounding have already been introduced without planning consent.
The applicants – the Prospect Target Club – say the development would provide essential and secure training for amateur and professional shooters.
There are 300 members of the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) in Cheshire but only one accredited BASC facility in the county.
Ten new jobs would be created and five existing jobs retained and the facility would attract £400,000 a year in consumer expenditure at local hotels, food, retail and leisure outlets.
The application is supported by the National Disabled Shooters Club and the bulk of the site will be given over to landscaping, with 8,000 trees being planted.
Objectors say there are a large number of houses close enough to the site to be affected by the sound of gunshots.
Planning officers have recommended the scheme be refused.
PLANNING chiefs are to visit the site of a proposed clay pigeon shooting
club on farmland near Warrington before deciding if the development can
take place.
Planners think twice on shooting range
55 Comments
Share.
About Author
Gary Skentelbery
Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.
5 Comments
I think the headline is very deceiving this application has never got to the planning committee but the applicants have submitted their application twice and then withdrawn.
Between each application they have continued to develop the site in a manner that beggars belief.
They appear to have developed along the lines of let’s try this bit and ignore the outcry.
Having done what they wanted to do they have ignored planning principles and recommendations, carried out no consultation with local residents and totally disregarded the impact on wildlife particularly the BIRD RED LIST of endangered species that nest here and other environmental issues they are going for ‘Third Time Lucky principle.
Ideally the future headline will be ‘Third Time UNLUCKY’ for Prospect Farm Target Club.
Why not add your comments to the Warrington Nature Conservation Forum Facebook Site ?
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Warrington-Nature-Conservation-Forum/110886079024465
I agree Geoff that the headline is deceiving , it is the “Planners think” that I find anomalous.
However I would be interested to know which of the Red List are currently resident on this site,
Hi Eagle examples include Lapwing, Grey Partridge, Skylark, Tree Sparrow, Corn Bunting and Yellowhammer.
Members of the RSPB during a survey found a Grey Partridge with young and 66 Lapwings with at least 15 small to medium chicks on land about 100mtrs south of the proposed site. They reference the survey work conducted for the Cheshire breeding and wintering Atlas (2004 – 2007) and the large number of wintering Skylarks on Rixton Moss was commented on the Atlas-only one of seven sites in the country with three figure numbers. Since the comprehensive survey there have been sightings of a pair of breeding Common Terns on the Moat Lane pool just west of Rixton Claypits.
The flight path of the clay pigeons and ammunition will be directly above nesting sites during the breeding season and will disturb them in many other ways throughout the year.
And we must not forget what impact this application will have on Risley Moss with its boundary less than 100 metres to the north. The reserve is designated as both a Special Area of Conservation [S.A.C] and a Site of Special Scientific Interest [S.S.S.I] and a Local Nature Reserve [L.N.R]. The SSSI status in particular includes recognition of the range of breeding birds found on the reserves.
The disturbance and close proximity of the shooting and the daily barrage of sound will have a detrimental impact on breeding levels and especially those highlighted in the Red list of Birds of Conservation Concern [BoCC] [compiled jointly by RSPB, BTO, JNCC, WWT and other conservation organisations]. These include Song Thrush, Linnet, Lesser Redpoll, Willow Tit, Grasshopper Warbler and Lapwing.
It will also impact on birds highlighted in the Amber list of Birds of Conservation Concern which includes Teal, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Snipe, Meadow Pipit, Dunnock, Mistle Thrush, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler and Reed Bunting.
A further consideration is the impact shooting will have on those species roosting or feeding on the reserve during daylight hours in winter which includes Marsh and Hen Harrier, Kestrel, Merlin, Barn and Short-eared Owl, Long Eared Owl, Snipe, Meadow Pipit, flocks of Finches and Thrushes.
There is a good deal of information on the bird life of the reserve arising from survey work going back to the 1970s and much of it appears annually in the RM bird reports. We know how important the reserve and the surrounding area is for bird life but it is clear that this application could change all that!