**Very large scale** shooting club planned @ Tuhirangi Road (will open 7 days / week).

Hi,

It has come to the attention of the Grapevine through some concerned local residents that there is a very large scale shooting club being planned; to be located at the top of Tuhirangi Road. – Link to GoogleMaps

aklshootingclublocation

According to their website: http://www.aucklandshootingclub.org.nz it is due to open in July 2017. There is no mention about resource consents, and this does not appear on the Akl Council’s website as a publicly notified consent process. Their own website states that they intend to operate 7 days per week and to run a number of high profile events, up to international competition level, including rifle, shotgun and pistol activities.

It is my personal feeling that this type of constant gunfire, with regular, intense shooting activity in the area represents a potentially significant impact on existing land use in the area. That is may not be possible for them to suitably limit and constrain the nuisance that this type of regular noise would create.

Personally, I would like to see this become a notifiable, resource consent hearing in order for any other concerned residents and neighbours of this facility to have their concerns considered.

I personally am not anti-firearms, I have held my own firearms license for 7 years, I have an active interest in rifle and shotgun shooting; including developing my own hand-loaded rounds, I have personally undertaken recreational shooting activities on my own land, but in doing so, I have always been mindful of the impact of the noise and have tried to minimise that for the sake of my neighbours, keeping it  limited and ensuring that it is not a repetitive or constant nuisance. – I cannot see that a range, intended to be open 7 days / week could exercise these same considerations and I am concerned for the wellbeing of those who live close to this planned facility. A lot of us moved to the country for a peaceful existence and may not welcome this type of potentially continual noise.

Elsewhere in NZ, larger scale ranges, such as in Whanganui (where I have used their 300m range) are located in extremely remote, non-populated areas; such as beside the airport / backing on to the beach / sand-dunes. I would have thought that somewhere such as South Head, or perhaps Woodhill forest may have provided a more suitable location (in terms of remoteness and proximity to existing residential dwellings), but their current location is surely going to cause a number of people to be very concerned.

I do not personally have the time to manage or coordinate any community based effort in this regard, but I do think that this may be important enough to encourage a number of others to take a closer look at what is being planned. There are people in our community who are knowledgeable in terms of council processes with some existing contacts within the council who may be able to shed some light on what is known / considered and already approved, formally.

It needs to be stressed that at this point in time, the only source of information on this project is that of the newly forming club, and that this information is one-sided, potentially biased towards positive marketing of their concept / ideas and that it may not have progressed solidly to council yet. I would encourage those who may feel strongly in opposition of this, to make yourselves known, so that I can circulate a further bulletin for you to coordinate what-ever further efforts *you believe are required*. (I can’t drive this, I do not have the time or capacity to do so – sorry).

In the interim, if you do have any comments or want to share your thoughts, then please do not reply to me here; share your thoughts with the community through the Grapevine’s Facebook page. – Post a comment in reply to this post on Facebook. Initially we should see what type of scale of opposition there may be to this type of facility in our neighbourhood, then respond accordingly.

Thanks for reading this, regards,

Chris. – Your Grapevine administrator. – [email protected]

**Very large scale** shooting club planned @ Tuhirangi Road (will open 7 days / week).

Hi,

It has come to the attention of the Grapevine through some concerned local residents that there is a very large scale shooting club being planned; to be located at the top of Tuhirangi Road. – Link to GoogleMaps

aklshootingclublocation

According to their website: http://www.aucklandshootingclub.org.nz it is due to open in July 2017. There is no mention about resource consents, and this does not appear on the Akl Council’s website as a publicly notified consent process. Their own website states that they intend to operate 7 days per week and to run a number of high profile events, up to international competition level, including rifle, shotgun and pistol activities.

It is my personal feeling that this type of constant gunfire, with regular, intense shooting activity in the area represents a potentially significant impact on existing land use in the area. That is may not be possible for them to suitably limit and constrain the nuisance that this type of regular noise would create.

Personally, I would like to see this become a notifiable, resource consent hearing in order for any other concerned residents and neighbours of this facility to have their concerns considered.

I personally am not anti-firearms, I have held my own firearms license for 7 years, I have an active interest in rifle and shotgun shooting; including developing my own hand-loaded rounds, I have personally undertaken recreational shooting activities on my own land, but in doing so, I have always been mindful of the impact of the noise and have tried to minimise that for the sake of my neighbours, keeping it  limited and ensuring that it is not a repetitive or constant nuisance. – I cannot see that a range, intended to be open 7 days / week could exercise these same considerations and I am concerned for the wellbeing of those who live close to this planned facility. A lot of us moved to the country for a peaceful existence and may not welcome this type of potentially continual noise.

Elsewhere in NZ, larger scale ranges, such as in Whanganui (where I have used their 300m range) are located in extremely remote, non-populated areas; such as beside the airport / backing on to the beach / sand-dunes. I would have thought that somewhere such as South Head, or perhaps Woodhill forest may have provided a more suitable location (in terms of remoteness and proximity to existing residential dwellings), but their current location is surely going to cause a number of people to be very concerned.

I do not personally have the time to manage or coordinate any community based effort in this regard, but I do think that this may be important enough to encourage a number of others to take a closer look at what is being planned. There are people in our community who are knowledgeable in terms of council processes with some existing contacts within the council who may be able to shed some light on what is known / considered and already approved, formally.

It needs to be stressed that at this point in time, the only source of information on this project is that of the newly forming club, and that this information is one-sided, potentially biased towards positive marketing of their concept / ideas and that it may not have progressed solidly to council yet. I would encourage those who may feel strongly in opposition of this, to make yourselves known, so that I can circulate a further bulletin for you to coordinate what-ever further efforts *you believe are required*. (I can’t drive this, I do not have the time or capacity to do so – sorry).

In the interim, if you do have any comments or want to share your thoughts, then please do not reply to me here; share your thoughts with the community through the Grapevine’s Facebook page. – Post a comment in reply to this post on Facebook. Initially we should see what type of scale of opposition there may be to this type of facility in our neighbourhood, then respond accordingly.

Thanks for reading this, regards,

Chris. – Your Grapevine administrator. – [email protected]