Steven Mace
04-08-2002, 05:46 PM
Gravest threat yet to clay shooting
By Simon Baseley
08/04/2002
Gravest threat to the future of clay shooting: that’s that reaction of the shooting industry to proposals drafted by The Department for Transport and the Local Regions (DTLR) which will – if adopted – have a catastrophic effect on clay shoots up and down the country.
Simply, DTLR intends to amend existing regulations so all clay shoots currently operating under the 28-day exemption rule would have to apply for planning permission on each and every occasion they wanted to shoot. Not only would this decimate clay shooting, but its knock-on effect would have dire consequences for all shooting sports, as well as the many charities which currently benefit from funds raised at clay shooting events.
The paper came as a complete surprise. Without warning it was published on the Internet in January. Entirely out of step with the Government’s pledge to promote open government, this act might seem surprising until you realise that its source is the spin-ridden DTLR, headed, of course, by the widely discredited Stephen Byers. Even those to whom conspiracy theories are anathema, it’d be hard put to dismiss the idea that this is another (not very subtle) attempt to pick off shooting activities one by one.
But the time when the sport would have sat round passively awaiting the outcome has gone. The British Shooting Sports Council (BSSC) is preparing a detailed answer to what is a very poorly thought out document; meanwhile, the Shooting Industry Fund (SIF) is coordinating a nationwide response, to which your input is crucial. The SIF – set up specifically to tackle problems where fighting funds were needed quickly – has already mailed 800 shooting clubs alerting them to the problem and is even now busy drumming up support from the charities who are likely to be among the biggest casualties of this misguided campaign.
And there is a warning for clubs not operating under the 28-day rule that might think all this will pass by – it won’t, not least because the loss of the smaller shoots will push up the cost of shooting astronomically, by forcing many suppliers out of business. More importantly the Government will be encouraged in its strategy of picking us off one by one.
Everyone reading this should act now. You have until 24 April to register your objection to this proposal. You don’t have to be Shakespeare either. Simply email or write to Iain Clark at:
Development Control Policy Division
Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions
Zone 4/J3
Eland House
Bressenden Place
London SW1E 5DU
Tell him, for example, how much your shoot has raised for charity in the past year and which ones benefited. Also tell him that the introduction of the changes proposed would make it impossible for you to continue with your sport.
Oh, by the way, do it now!
http://www.leadshot.com/story.asp?id=520
Steve Mace
By Simon Baseley
08/04/2002
Gravest threat to the future of clay shooting: that’s that reaction of the shooting industry to proposals drafted by The Department for Transport and the Local Regions (DTLR) which will – if adopted – have a catastrophic effect on clay shoots up and down the country.
Simply, DTLR intends to amend existing regulations so all clay shoots currently operating under the 28-day exemption rule would have to apply for planning permission on each and every occasion they wanted to shoot. Not only would this decimate clay shooting, but its knock-on effect would have dire consequences for all shooting sports, as well as the many charities which currently benefit from funds raised at clay shooting events.
The paper came as a complete surprise. Without warning it was published on the Internet in January. Entirely out of step with the Government’s pledge to promote open government, this act might seem surprising until you realise that its source is the spin-ridden DTLR, headed, of course, by the widely discredited Stephen Byers. Even those to whom conspiracy theories are anathema, it’d be hard put to dismiss the idea that this is another (not very subtle) attempt to pick off shooting activities one by one.
But the time when the sport would have sat round passively awaiting the outcome has gone. The British Shooting Sports Council (BSSC) is preparing a detailed answer to what is a very poorly thought out document; meanwhile, the Shooting Industry Fund (SIF) is coordinating a nationwide response, to which your input is crucial. The SIF – set up specifically to tackle problems where fighting funds were needed quickly – has already mailed 800 shooting clubs alerting them to the problem and is even now busy drumming up support from the charities who are likely to be among the biggest casualties of this misguided campaign.
And there is a warning for clubs not operating under the 28-day rule that might think all this will pass by – it won’t, not least because the loss of the smaller shoots will push up the cost of shooting astronomically, by forcing many suppliers out of business. More importantly the Government will be encouraged in its strategy of picking us off one by one.
Everyone reading this should act now. You have until 24 April to register your objection to this proposal. You don’t have to be Shakespeare either. Simply email or write to Iain Clark at:
Development Control Policy Division
Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions
Zone 4/J3
Eland House
Bressenden Place
London SW1E 5DU
Tell him, for example, how much your shoot has raised for charity in the past year and which ones benefited. Also tell him that the introduction of the changes proposed would make it impossible for you to continue with your sport.
Oh, by the way, do it now!
http://www.leadshot.com/story.asp?id=520
Steve Mace