Thread: Battle over banning noise complaints against military gun range goes to court

So who has access to this https://www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/3...nge-goes-court site?

Just wondering what's going on since it's behind a paywall. Please post, thanks.

Pdf attached.

Comments so far.

Ya gotta laugh that the councils appear to not understand what Defence Forces are all about! Been there since 1940. Greedy councils have permitted the rural area close to the range to become urbanised. What on earth did they think was going to happen?

Times change though.

Having a rifle range on ground that flat must surely expose some of the locals to a ricochet hazard?

Remember that in 1940 West Melton was right out in the sticks,which is why they put it there. Now its not ,so thats why they are having problems.

Would have been better out at Green Park or somewhere on the Port Hills? I guess that was too far out back in the day?

There is zero ricochet risk on a properly designed and maintained range, "zero danger area" ranges are very common in NZ, we shoot both pentratable and steel targets on ours.

Originally Posted by norsk

Times change though.

Having a rifle range on ground that flat must surely expose some of the locals to a ricochet hazard?

Remember that in 1940 West Melton was right out in the sticks,which is why they put it there. Now its not ,so thats why they are having problems.

Would have been better out at Green Park or somewhere on the Port Hills? I guess that was too far out back in the day?

Greetings,
The flat ranges do pose a ricochet hazard. The longer ranges on flat ground with mounds every hundred yards need a huge danger area which is the reason many of them have closed. The problem is range floor strike especially where there is 4P shooting where there is a larger cone of fire. This was the reason for the demise of the Roy's Hill Range. Later ranges often shoot across gullies or with an elevated shooting point to deal with this. Noise is another issue and is a problem in many parts of the world. Some of the wonderful old ranges in the US like Creedmoor have either closed or been restricted to .22 RF only.
GPM.

Proper procedures to ensure Cone of fire is maintained means these ranges shouldn't have needed to close. Our range is dead flat. Some of the old range certifiers and thier manuals have a lot to answer for.

The latest FSA range manual has its issues but at least is a lot better than what was foisted on us before.

It's not what it seems. The army want to put a covernet on properties with 2 km of the range that we can't complain about the noise. The locals which I am one are happy with the states quo. It is the army been heavy handed telling the council what it wants. A covernet would devalue properties and the army could charge what they get up to and are been less than open about things.
Yet the the army are complaining about noise that might come from a quarry near Burnham camp.

This will probably go right over the complainants heads, but do they see the significance of the situation, in that they are submitting their complaints in the English language, not German or Japanese. Should our Defence Force, and others we stood alongside some 70-80 years ago have failed in their mission, that indeed would be the language their complaints would be being submitted in.

I would have thought that recent global events would be placing these sorts of issues front and centre to most people, but Kiwis as a people can be pretty lackadaisical in such matters.

Anywho, don't take this as my approval that our current Defence Force is in any shape whatsoever for participating in the protection of NZ interests. That ship sailed quite a long time ago.

Defence Forces make noise. Sometimes lots of it. It comes with the territory.

Originally Posted by XR500

This will probably go right over the complainants heads, but do they see the significance of the situation, in that they are submitting their complaints in the English language, not German or Japanese. Should our Defence Force, and others we stood alongside some 70-80 years ago have failed in their mission, that indeed would be the language their complaints would be being submitted in.

I would have thought that recent global events would be placing these sorts of issues front and centre to most people, but Kiwis as a people can be pretty lackadaisical in such matters.

Anywho, don't take this as my approval that our current Defence Force is in any shape whatsoever for participating in the protection of NZ interests. That ship sailed quite a long time ago.

Defence Forces make noise. Sometimes lots of it. It comes with the territory.

The locals are not complaining about the noise or the army range, it's the heavy handed attitude we are telling you, not asking, that we want to put covernet on your property.

I imagine the NZDF is looking at the long term. There may be a bunch of ' good bastards' owning the lifestyle blocks right now. But come 5 -10 years when things change and people sell, others move in and ohhh! we don't like the noise rears its head. That's when things get messy if the situation isn't written down in black and white.

Originally Posted by Localman

The locals are not complaining about the noise or the army range, it's the heavy handed attitude we are telling you, not asking, that we want to put covernet on your property.

yep and that is unfair............unless they were to purchase all the relevent properties at market prices....then they could do as they wished perhaps

Greetings,
For a long time the NZ Government, including the Army just built things without any input from Local Government. Most of the ranges built at the time would have had no consents for either buildings or planning. The right time to put a covenant on the titles for the subdivisions would have been when the land was subdivided. Someone dropped the ball, likely the Army.
GPM.

I dont see that the army has the right to place a covenant on properties which they do not own. They should either purchase said properties, or lodge a caveat with the council that any persons purchasing the properties in the future must be made aware that there is likely to be noise, and that the range is not moving anywhere. If you don't like the noise, don't purchase this property.

Be great if you were deaf!!!