Range planning refused

rrpc

From the Examiner

Shooting range plan rejected

By Jimmy Woulfe, Mid-WestCorrespondent
PLANS to build the country’s first underground shooting range were yesterday knocked by planners at Limerick County Council.

Anthony O’Connor had applied to develop a bunker- type firing range on a site at Dromin Athlacca.

The facility would cover an area of almost 700sq m.

It was being geared for people licensed to hold firearms.

Limerick County Council yesterday refused planning permission after a number of local people lodged objections to the facility.

Some feared Limerick criminals might try and force their way into the range late at night to do target practice.

They were also concerned at the amount of additional road traffic it would draw into a rural area of Co Limerick.

In refusing planning permission, the council said such commercial developments should generally be located in or near settlements where all necessary infrastructure has been provided.

The council cited the effect the development would have on adjacent and nearby properties, and adverse transport effects.

If planning was granted, the council claims it would contravene the County Development Plan of 2005.

The council said approval of such a development would further set a precedent for similar “such inappropriate” developments in rural areas.

I had a number of discussions with this chap last year and met him once to advise on the construction of this range. I'm very disappointed to hear this outcome.

Some of the objections are unbelievable: "criminals breaking in to practice" is such unbelievable rubbish it beggars belief. Could you imagine a bunch of criminals effectively imprisoning themselves underground to practice shooting?

AFAIK the Gardai were very supportive of his plans as they had need of a good range for themsleves to train in. I don't know the Limerick Co. Co. development plans but I would have thought that a sports facility would be in line with them.

Sparks

Dammit. I was hoping this would take off, I spoke with the guy myself before putting him in touch with RRPC and the plans and his intent sounded excellent
Can this be appealed rrpc?

rrpc

Sparks wrote: »

Dammit. I was hoping this would take off, I spoke with the guy myself before putting him in touch with RRPC and the plans and his intent sounded excellent
Can this be appealed rrpc?

Yes it can be appealed to An Bord Pleanala. However having looked at his application, he made a number of errors and certainly didn't put in the kind of information I advised him to include. There was no noise survey and there was no attempt to deal with the traffic issue. I think his architect chose the wrong fee level for him and it was submitted under the commercial fee structure which of course made the entire application a commercial one.

That cost him €2500 more than it should have.

Most of the objections were fairly reasonable and certainly weren't as reported in the Examiner. People were concerned about the storage of firearms attracting criminals rather than said crminals breaking in to use the range.

There just wasn't enough information in the application to allay any of the fears of the objectors which were broadly along the lines of increased traffic, noise, inadequate street lighting, litter and inappropriate land use.

Sparks

Rats. But those are rectifiable mistakes, surely?

Vegeta

Sparks wrote: »

Rats. But those are rectifiable mistakes, surely?

One would hope so

also Sparks 9 posts of the 10k, respect

Sparks

also Sparks 9 posts of the 10k, respect

Good grief. Still, spread over 5 years, that's not too bad. It only works out at... doh. 5.4 messages per day.
Well, sod. I blame the nuns, they're the ones taught me how to touch-type.

rrpc

Sparks wrote: »

Rats. But those are rectifiable mistakes, surely?

Inappropriate land use and traffic are the most difficult hurdles to overcome. You'd have to severely limit numbers and times in order to deal with the traffic issue and the land use one would require a great deal of knowledge of the county development plan and how the proposed development would fit in.

Starting off with a commercial application was the first and most serious problem. An appeal to ABP would have this as a millstone. Best approach is to apply again with a different proposal and with more information.

les45

Did the EPA have any input or is that something that would come into play at a latter date , from my own research ,the filter disposal from the extraction system seems to be a difficulty in Ireland

John

rrpc

les45 wrote: »

Did the EPA have any input or is that something that would come into play at a latter date , from my own research ,the filter disposal from the extraction system seems to be a difficulty in Ireland

John

Not usually with planning applications. The County Council's environment section have an input and produce a report based on their own work.

bullets

Its the first I heard of it. I knew there were rumors going about the place
about someone in the Limerick Area trying to build a range outside of
the City but that was all I had heard. Dont even know the area mentioned in the
original post.

It would be nice to know if they refused permission if they could suggest someplace
else in the Limerick Area that they would NOT have an issue with for people in the
County to Practice shooting. Council's surely could recognize that we have
no Local grounds to Target Shoot Rifle & Pistol.

Us folks down this neck of the woods could do with a local range.
I dont get to do half the amount of shooting I would like to be able to do
mostly because of the distance needed to travel to the club I am with.
(And my only mode of transport being a bi-cycle!!
When I travel up with a buddy from work its only once every month or two.

~B

johngalway

I hope any and all appeals to that decision will go well

bullets

Anyone know what kind of shooting the guy had in mind if he did get to build the range?
Was it like a 10m indoor range or something like a 50/100m Range.

If it was indoors then noise would not be an issue and its not like there are millions
of shooters locally that will ruin the country side by driving out the road.

Hope the guy appeals and has a bit of luck.

I've been looking at www.lcc.ie Planning permission refusals for this year and so far
cant find the Lads name on the refusal list.

~B

thehair

johngalway wrote: »

I hope any and all appeals to that decision will go well

their is a lot of space for a range in the west of ireland. i.e. bog land
it is a pity that the range was refused planning permission, so much
for the B M W reigon with i think a lot of money for new project in the west. i dont care if i get a ban for saying this how much more
bull-shi can go on people trying to get someing done and after all
the paper work/ time spent on this project/ money you will never
see again/ GRANT AID MY ARSE:mad:

Rovi

bullets wrote: »

I've been looking at www.lcc.ie Planning permission refusals for this year and so far
cant find the Lads name on the refusal list.

~B

Stick '08617' into their Planning Enquiry thing-
http://www.lcc.ie/ePlanningEnquiry

rrpc

bullets wrote: »

Anyone know what kind of shooting the guy had in mind if he did get to build the range?
Was it like a 10m indoor range or something like a 50/100m Range.

If it was indoors then noise would not be an issue and its not like there are millions
of shooters locally that will ruin the country side by driving out the road.

Hope the guy appeals and has a bit of luck.

I've been looking at www.lcc.ie Planning permission refusals for this year and so far
cant find the Lads name on the refusal list.

~B

It was originally supposed to be a 50m range, but the Garda Ballistics lads were not happy about it, so he reduced it to 30m.

The problem with 50m was that it wasn't wide enough for baffles etc.

bullets

I had heard there was someone locally around my parts that
had wanted to build a range where shooters would lie prone or sit infront of
those big concrete cylinder like things they use in construction and make
shooting lanes like tunnels but the info only came via word of mouth
when I saw the first post I thought it may have been the man.

~B

rrpc

bullets wrote: »

I had heard there was someone locally around my parts that
had wanted to build a range where shooters would lie prone or sit infront of
those big concrete cylinder like things they use in construction and make
shooting lanes like tunnels but the info only came via word of mouth
when I saw the first post I thought it may have been the man.

~B

That was the man . That was his original idea, he changed it a bit as he went along, but it was still the basic method of construction.

Umiq88

Shame that didnt go through but i dont think you could blame the council.

They have there standards and if you dont meet them you wont be granted simple as and if it falls outside of their county development plan they wont grant it. Appealling shouldnt make much difference sounds like they had grounds for a refusal.