Chamber and committees

Eskdalemuir Community Council submission of 11 June 2021

PE1874/B - Introduce legislation to create artillery and firearms exclusion zones around places of spiritual importance and religious worship

As Scottish Parliament Petition conditions and terms stipulate a maximum word count this has logistically limited the extent of in-depth background detail, regarding planning applications that have inspired this firearm exclusion zone petition.

As such, the background information for Petition 1874 has hitherto made no explicit reference to the Over Cassock site or the Fifty Calibre Shooters Association. However, as both are named in the submission, I will name them in this response.

Land at Over Cassock is currently the subject of a Proposal of Application Notice issued by an agent on behalf of the property owner. 1/1084/Pan | Proposal Of Application Notice In Respect Of Proposed Partial Use Of Agricultural Land To Accommodate A Rifle Range, Facilities Building And Limited Hardstanding Infrastructure. This is not as stated in the Fifty Calibre Shooters Association submission a ‘planning application to replace the temporary buildings on the range with a permanent one’.

There is no reference in the Proposal of Application Notice to the Fifty Calibre Shooters Association. There has never been any attempt by the Fifty Calibre Shooters Association to engage with the public so we do not have knowledge of the nature of their involvement in the proposed development nor how long they have been shooting there. Presumably if planning permission is granted it will be to the landowner and not the Fifty Calibre Shooters Association rendering their use of the term ‘our land’ invalid.

Despite the fact that the 50 calibre rifles have a range of up to four miles no public notification of when shooting has taken place on Over Cassock has ever been issued by the Fifty Calibre Shooters Association or any other shooters. I note that two way marked walking routes of national significance are within 3 miles of the firing point.

Two planning applications for separate rifle ranges in Eskdalemuir have been submitted in the past year. One was for Over Cassock (validated on 02 November 2020) and withdrawn 28 April 2021 on the instruction of Dumfries and Galloway Council following their independent legal advice. Similarly an application for Clerk Hill (validated on 10 February 2021) was also withdrawn on the same date. As neither site had any previous planning consent we consider both to be new developments.

Target shooting competitions may have taken place on land at Over Cassock since 2017 but not as stated ‘without a single complaint or issue’. The Eskdalemuir Community Council raised concerns about the target shooting at 2 Over Cassock in 2018 with both Dumfries and Galloway Council and Police Scotland. However, it took the Council over 2 years to press the landowner to make a planning application. In 2018 a public survey was conducted in Eskdalemuir. This showed the community not to be in favour of a 50-calibre rifle range. Clubs other than Fifty Calibre Shooters Association have operated at Over Cassock and Clerkhill. They indeed have used the terms US Military Style Shooting in their online promotions. The United States Air Force stated that they had visited Eskdalemuir seven times and a military exercise in February 2021 was stopped by the Ministry of Defence at the request of Police Scotland after local concerns were raised.

As yet no noise assessment for a rifle range at Over Cassock has been placed in the public domain. However I note that on 24 November 2020 the Dumfries and Galloway Environmental Health requested that one be conducted.

I am happy to submit documentary evidence of any of the above if required.