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?

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.

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.

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.

Originally Posted by Localman

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.

heaven prevent property values going down. The net net of it is the NZDF were there first and need to shoot. This is on the same level of moving next to the powerstation/king's arms or the airport and complaining about the noise

Originally Posted by Russian 22.

heaven prevent property values going down. The net net of it is the NZDF were there first and need to shoot. This is on the same level of moving next to the powerstation/king's arms or the airport and complaining about the noise

The locals are not complaining about the noise, in fact the machine guns were firing away today, back ground noise. It's what they are not telling us that is more of a concern. Soon as they change things who knows what they might want to get up to. As said people are happy the way they operate at the moment but if they suddenly started operating 24/7 that would upset everyone.

Originally Posted by Localman

The locals are not complaining about the noise, in fact the machine guns were firing away today, back ground noise. It's what they are not telling us that is more of a concern. Soon as they change things who knows what they might want to get up to. As said people are happy the way they operate at the moment but if they suddenly started operating 24/7 that would upset everyone.

And that is it in a nutshell. The District Plan Review should sort things out.
GPM.

Originally Posted by Localman

The locals are not complaining about the noise, in fact the machine guns were firing away today, back ground noise. It's what they are not telling us that is more of a concern. Soon as they change things who knows what they might want to get up to. As said people are happy the way they operate at the moment but if they suddenly started operating 24/7 that would upset everyone.

Also a local, just outside the 2km radius. Dont care about the machine gun noise and also enjoy seeing the military activity in the area between the RIFLE range and camp in Rolleston, it was here before we purchased land and built.

BUT, the bigger picture is the fact the army is loosing too many staff due to families not wanting to do their time in the desert, so Rolleston is being turned into home base, which will see a whole lot more activity in the Selwyn district. If the army just came out and applied for Resource Consent for what they really want, the whole town of West Melton would be up in arms, so they are doing the slippery slope; 2km zone, then it will be artillery etc etc.

(The locals are pretty battle ready; quarries & chicken farms have been defeated so far)

Originally Posted by Sid_cruiser

Also a local, just outside the 2km radius. Dont care about the machine gun noise and also enjoy seeing the military activity in the area between the RIFLE range and camp in Rolleston, it was here before we purchased land and built.

BUT, the bigger picture is the fact the army is loosing too many staff due to families not wanting to do their time in the desert, so Rolleston is being turned into home base, which will see a whole lot more activity in the Selwyn district. If the army just came out and applied for Resource Consent for what they really want, the whole town of West Melton would be up in arms, so they are doing the slippery slope; 2km zone, then it will be artillery etc etc.

(The locals are pretty battle ready; quarries & chicken farms have been defeated so far)

Quarries and chicken farms were not there in 1942.

There's a forum member who was the Range certifying officer for West Melton a wee way back. He may pop up and allay your fears that the range could be used for Artillery: to my knowledge its only certified for small arms (unsure of calibre limitation) hand grenades and bulk explosives no greater than 0.5 kgs.

Originally Posted by Localman

The locals are not complaining about the noise, in fact the machine guns were firing away today, back ground noise. It's what they are not telling us that is more of a concern. Soon as they change things who knows what they might want to get up to. As said people are happy the way they operate at the moment but if they suddenly started operating 24/7 that would upset everyone.

This is speculation and the divisive, polarising sort of argument put forward by agents provacateurs to undermine confidence in our due process and rules based community.