How much would it cost to build a range from scratch?

[Gaz]

I'm currently activly exploring this for my club and the more I find out about it the more I honestly beleive that unless your lucky enough to be in a very very remote part of the country the chances of getting the planning permission for an open air range are pretty unlikely.
For an example a RFD here in Somerset managed to get planning permission for a 100m full bore range and 3x 50m gallery rifle ranges on a site next to the largest open cast quarry in europe.
Now that project has cost him somewhere close to 100k just to gain the planning permission (he isn't nuts, he will make the money back from the tipping!).
Time wise it took over 10 years to get the planning permission. In the end it needed a public enquirey with a inspector from Westminster to oversee it as all the local councilers were to afraid to make a decision!
So the question is can you/your club afford to take the huge gamble that the planning process is these days?

Personally I'm convinced the only way new ranges will be created is indoor facilities. I have my lottery ticket, do you?

Brookers

100k for planning permission alone?! good gods below!

[Thorney]

For an example a RFD here in Somerset managed to get planning permission for a 100m full bore range and 3x 50m gallery rifle ranges on a site next to the largest open cast quarry in europe.
Now that project has cost him somewhere close to 100k just to gain the planning permission (he isn't nuts, he will make the money back from the tipping!).
Time wise it took over 10 years to get the planning permission. In the end it needed a public enquirey with a inspector from Westminster to oversee it as all the local councilers were to afraid to make a decision!
S
Brookers

I've heard of Hobbsy's range, I remember being in there a few years ago and he mentioned that with the planned clay traps a local school (iirc) was opposing it on the grounds of noise scaring the children (will someone PLEASE think of the children! :roll: ), the local FEO went over to discuss it with the head who claimed the noise would be horrific, only for him to be informed that said RFD had been shooting for the last 30 minutes.

We had that, a local resident complained that the sound of gunfire would be so bad that their horses would die on the spot (no joke).

We had a sound survey done which meant a guy standing at various points with a big mic on a pole while I shot literally hundreds of shots at 1 second intervals (I fired over 2000 rounds doing this). Whilst he was standing in the village this person rolled up in her rangie and asked what he was doing there to which he explained he was measuring noise and she spent 15 minutes berating him about how awful it was and how her children wouldnt be able to sleep and what an awful person I was (one allegation was that I would run amok in the village shooting everyone). He just stood there, saying he wasnt involved and was just there to measure the noise but at the end he couldnt help but say to this person 'by the way you do know that while you have been here John has been firing a shot every second and neither you, me nor the sound meter picked up a single sound?" She just roared off in a huff.

[the running man]

I heard fdpc new range will never happen Neil? Is that true?

[BamBam]

We didn't build from scratch, my mate found a club with a handful of old shooters in a quarry. he joined and then recruited all of us. we then extended and improved the range. Neighbours have tried to shut us down, by claiming we were running an illegal range. Council checked and found nothing in 25 years, we said, you're not looking back far enough. Our place has been a shooting range since 1939, home guard then territorials. Planning permission was retroactively applied for the improvements. It's good when the club own the land, feels a bit more secure than somewhere with a lease.

[Brookers]

I heard fdpc new range will never happen Neil? Is that true?

If your refering to the Mitchell Elms Farm range then that has never been an FDPC project. FDPC have been approached by the developers asking for their support in the planning process and FDPC has been offered access to the range when it's built but it would never be FDPC's "range" we would just be one of groups with access to the range.

Full planning was granted about 5 years ago now.

Is it going to happen? There is no way that Mr Hobbs would sink that much money in to the project without following it through to completion. Having said that there is no rush on this project. Andy is a bussiness man and with the slump in the economy over the last few years there has not been the demand for tipping and he isn't going to loose out on the opportunity for recouping his costs.

I had a meeting there a few weeks ago with Mr Hobbs. About 30% - 40% of the tipping has been done but nothing has been tipped for at least 18 months. They don't know when tipping will resume. They don't know how long it will take once tipping resumes. They have decided not to build the Skeet Layout that they gained planning permission for as they can make more money by filling in that area of the site with more tipping. They are not prepared to offer FDPC a lease of more than 5 years.

Where does that leave FDPC? Well at the last AGM the membership put forward a motion that was passed by the membership tasking the incomming committee with finding a new home for the club. I'm now on a sub committee exploring all possible options for the club from a disussed military range to commercial property. When the club has a solution I will post it up here.

Brookers

[Thorney]

This is the projected budget for ours

Planning -£30,000
Landscaping - £40,000
Shooting sheds - £15,000
Shooting lanes and bullet catchers - £25,000
Electronic targets and infrastructure - £75,000

[Dellboy]

Would an underground range be an easier answer ?
I have been thinking along the lines of a 200 metre pipe sunk into the ground or made in situ around 10 feet deep at its highest point .
Planning permission is vague regarding under land development
10 metres wide 5 metres tall ,plenty of natural noise suppression no better backstop
just a thought

[majordisorder]

10 metres wide 5 metres tall

Haven't seen these in B&Q

[Chapuis]

Would an underground range be an easier answer ?
I have been thinking along the lines of a 200 metre pipe sunk into the ground or made in situ around 10 feet deep at its highest point .
Planning permission is vague regarding under land development
10 metres wide 5 metres tall ,plenty of natural noise suppression no better backstop
just a thought

That's 10,000 cubic metres of earth to dispose of not to mention the amount you would have to shift to sink it 10 feet down. I hope that you are good on the shovel or know a couple of mates who are. :lol:

Earth, loam, dry, excavated - 1.25 tonne/cubic meter
Earth, moist, excavated - 1.44 tonne/cubic meter
Earth, wet, excavated - 1.60 tonne/cubic meter
Earth, dense - 2.00 tonne/cubic meter
Earth, soft loose mud - 1.73 tonne/cubic meter
Earth, packed - 1.52 tonne/cubic meter

Tube ranges are not exactly rare and as you say from a safety and noise suppression point of view are very good but they are not exactly cheap to construct. I believe that an underground range of 200 metres or so in length is planned or currently being built at Stirling lines but that will cost us the tax payer millions of pounds.
3 foot diameter tubes are much more feasible for most of us but box sections of roughly 2.5mm section that they use to build pedestrian underpasses could be a consideration. I have no idea on the costings though.

[Dellboy]

Would an underground range be an easier answer ?
I have been thinking along the lines of a 200 metre pipe sunk into the ground or made in situ around 10 feet deep at its highest point .
Planning permission is vague regarding under land development
10 metres wide 5 metres tall ,plenty of natural noise suppression no better backstop
just a thought

That's 10,000 cubic metres of earth to dispose of not to mention the amount you would have to shift to sink it 10 feet down. I hope that you are good on the shovel or know a couple of mates who are. :lol:

Earth, loam, dry, excavated - 1.25 tonne/cubic meter
Earth, moist, excavated - 1.44 tonne/cubic meter
Earth, wet, excavated - 1.60 tonne/cubic meter
Earth, dense - 2.00 tonne/cubic meter
Earth, soft loose mud - 1.73 tonne/cubic meter
Earth, packed - 1.52 tonne/cubic meter

Tube ranges are not exactly rare and as you say from a safety and noise suppression point of view are very good but they are not exactly cheap to construct. I believe that an underground range of 200 metres or so in length is planned or currently being built at Stirling lines but that will cost us the tax payer millions of pounds.
3 foot diameter tubes are much more feasible for most of us but box sections of roughly 2.5mm section that they use to build pedestrian underpasses could be a consideration. I have no idea on the costings though.

So we make a big rockery ?