Some good news for Dorset Shooters for a change. We wish Graham good luck in the new year.

legal lifeline for Purbeck Shooting School

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PURBECK Shooting School has been thrown a High Court lifeline by one of the country’s top judges. Mr Justice Dove has agreed the school can mount a legal challenge against a government Planning Inspectorate ruling threatening its closure. Earlier this year a planning inspector backed Purbeck District Council’s decision to uphold an enforcement notice alleging a failure to comply with noise conditions at the Puddletown Road site, near Wareham. School owner Graham Brown, who has vowed to ‘fight until his last breath’ to save his business, is now looking ahead to early next year when the High Court hearing is likely to proceed. Mr Brown’s solicitor, Lionel Fynn of Bournemouth’s Horsey Lightly Fynn law firm, welcomed the judge’s decision, that was made at London’s High Court on Tuesday. He said: “It is a bullseye on the first target to getting the decision overturned.” Mr Fynn explained that this latest High Court ruling had, in effect, allowed the shooting school to proceed with its application to have the inspector’s decision quashed so that a new enquiry can examine the consideration afresh. Purbeck Shooting School argues that after a decade of continuous operation, during which time they were unable to meet the terms of the noise condition that could not be complied with, their activities had become immune from enforcement action, says Mr Fynn. The school claims the inspector failed to consider this submission or give any lawful reason for dismissing it. The district council enforcement notice, that sparked the ongoing legal wrangle, cited gunfire exceeded the 55db level outlined in the school’s licence. Welcoming the latest High Court ruling, Mr Brown said he hopes the outcome will pave the way to preserve the future of his much-needed and highly regarded facility.

Dorset Shooters at Gunsite sporting clays.

Congratulations to Stuart Rudling for the first 100 straight at Gunsite Sporting Clays!

High Gun -S RUDLING 100 ,  Richard King 95.

Dorset shooters travel to Brook Bank in Somerset for some DTL. Ollie Hambly shoots his first 25 straight and Tony "100 straight" Read does it again ??Cracking day in the sun big thanks to Wes and his family. See Gallery.

 

Graham Brown to battle on.

THE owner of the Purbeck Shooting School says he ‘will not quit until his last breath’ after losing an appeal against a council enforcement notice over noise which could result in the club’s closure.

Graham Brown, who runs the school based on Puddletown Road in Wareham, says that he has complied with Purbeck District Council over the past 20 years.

However, following an investigation by a government planning inspector, council officials are continuing to uphold the notice, citing the gunfire as exceeding a 55db level which was affecting residents within one kilometre of the site.

Mr Brown says that he will be taking the appeal to the High Court in London, as it’s not just about him but the people of Dorset and the shooting community, who use the school’s facilities.

“There’s also 14,000 licence holders in Dorset that need to be shown how to use a gun safely and there is nowhere else in the area where they can go.

“We have to fight on because the area needs this, we generate a lot of money for the Purbeck area and we generate a tremendous amount of money for the community and charities.

“I have made too many personal sacrifices over the past 20 years for this not to work.”

Lionel Fynn, the solicitor acting on behalf of Mr Brown, from Horsey Lightly Fynn, said: “This was a very unsympathetic decision which paid no attention to the 19 years the School has been there doing the same thing for its numerous supporters.

“I am delighted that counsel has agreed the decision is wrong and should be challenged in the High Court.”

The solicitor for Purbeck District Council said: “The Council has received formal notification that Mr Brown is seeking to challenge the planning inspector’s decision in the High Court.

“This will be a matter between Mr Brown and the Secretary of State, so Purbeck District Council would be unlikely to take an active role in the court proceedings.”

 

Peter Wilson Retires.

Peter Wilson MBE has announced his retirement from competitive Olympic Double Trap at the age of 28. Wilson, from Dorset gave Britain a first shooting gold for 12 years, when he won at London 2012. 

Following his victory at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Wilson went onto to win the 2013 Al Ain World Cup, which was his last performance for British Shoting. 

Speaking of his retirement, Wilson took took to twitter adding, “With regret I have decided to give up competitive Olympic Double Trap.

“Since having achieved the goals I set myself (World Record, World Number One, and Olympic Gold) I have struggled to find a new incentive to compete.

 

“I am still passionate about all forms of shooting and will always be ready to do what I can to promote it to a wider audience.

 

“Olympic Double Trap has been very good to me and I am very grateful to everyone who has had a hand in my success but I would rather go out now, at the top after my most recent success in Al Ain (2013), and move on to the next challenge.”

 

Wilson retires with not only an Olympic gold medal to his name but also three World Cup golds and one silver, as well as a European silver and junior gold. He will now take on the role of double trap coach for young British shooter, James Dedman and said: "I believe he has the talent to go all the way to the very top but at the moment he is a junior. He is a really exciting prospect for the future. I see a lot of me in him and that's very exciting."

 

Calling all Dorset Shooters.

Can all Dorset Shooters please leave there E-Mail and Mobile numbers with Anthea at southern on there next visit. Once we loose are shooting ground we will need to be able to contact everyone to keep you posted on where and when our championships will be taking place. Fill free to E-Mail myself or Tony Read, our addresses are on this web site. Also keep an eye on Pull Magazine.Thanks

Tony Read 100 Straight.

Well done Tony Read after 26 years of shooting Down The Line Tony managed a 100 straight at Axminster well done Tony.

Well done to Christine and Terry Poore for a brown envelope a piece from Brook Bank, shooting Down The Line. Thats Christines first of many i hope. 

 

More bad news for Dorset Shooters.

Popular shooting school served with enforcement notice for being too loud

 

FUTURE: Graham Brown with 16-year-old Emily Hibbs, who has just won a place on the Dorset County Sportrap team

First published 10:22 Thursday 18 September 2014 in Newsby Jim Durkin

THE future of a popular Dorset shooting school hangs in the balance, after district officials served it with an enforcement notice for being too loud.

A government planning inspector is currently considering the evidence from a hearing, held at Purbeck District Council last month, that could spell disaster for the Purbeck Shooting School.

Officials, who say they acted following a complaint, issued an enforcement notice on the school at Puddletown Road, near Wareham, last December.

They cited the gunfire as exceeding a 55db level which was affecting residents living within one kilometre of the site.

However, school senior instructor and managing director Graham Brown appealed against the enforcement notice, arguing through his solicitor the noise level originally set down was always impossible to stay within and had been breached regularly for more than a decade without any enforcement action.

During the hearing, at Purbeck District Council’s Westport House headquarters, evidence was also heard from former councillor and planning board member Malcolm Shakesby, who explained the original 55db passed by the authority in 2003 came into being without any professional or technical recommendations.

In his final address, Mr Brown’s solicitor Lionel Fynn said: “The appellant has ample evidence to show that beyond any reasonable doubt, never mind on balance of probabilities, the condition was breached from the date of the granting of the permanent consent until the date of the enforcement notice on a regular and continuous basis, because the normal changes and variations in climate conditions have made this inevitable.”

According to Mr Fynn, to establish grounds for appeal Mr Brown has to prove that the use complained about started more than 10 years before the notice issued last December.

He added: “The council after this extraordinary length of time has suddenly decided that it wants to enforce the condition in its original form.

“The chances of even a week going by without further breaches are remote. Consequently, if the appeal is dismissed further breach is inevitable no matter what the appellant does failing closing the operation altogether which is exactly what he would have to do.”

New Secretary.

Hi everyone big thank you to Anthea for everything she has done over the years and I hope to carry on as best as I can. If anybody has any ideas or questions on anything Dorset or shooting related  please fill free to E mail me. Please bare with me on the web site,its  gonna take a while to settle into it. Please send any pictures or info on local shoots to me and i will place them on the web site.

 

Another World Cup Win for Peter

After a Winter of being in the media spotlight, Peter Wilson MBE has returned to Double Trap with a magnificent win at the World Cup in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates on 21st April 2013. In spite of having just two weeks training and not looking to shoot in this competition, Peter's coach, the 2004 Olympic Champion Sheik Amhed Almaktoum of Dubai pushed him to take part.

Shooting the new system Double Trap which throws random pairs, Peter qualified in fifth place for the semi-final having shot 30-27-30-25-29=141 ex 150 a total of 5 targets behind Walton Eller from America. With the new ISSF rules, the qualification scores are not carried forward into the final phases, no problem for Peter he then shot a blistering 29 ex 30 gaining a spot in the Gold medal match. There Peter, the reigning Olympic Champion, met China's Hao Wang and shooting a faultless 30 ex 30 to Wang's 28 took the World Cup.

Another massive congratulations and an excellent start to your journey to Rio in 2016.

Dorset's Mr Bean awarded the MBE

Peter Wilson has made the headlines again by being awarded the MBE in the New Year's Honours - just as many of us were watching him take part in Superstars on the television. I'm glad his MBE did not depend on throwing the javelin nor running the 800 metres (someone said they thought he ran like Mr Bean !!) but may I say Peter well done for taking part and although you didn't win we are all very proud of you. And .......... very many congratulations for your MBE it is just reward for your brilliant Olympic acheivement.

100 for Colin

Colin White's DTL scores have been improving steadily but now he has acheived the maximum '100' at Axminster on Saturday 19th October. Many congratulations to you Colin - a great result.

'Itsy Bitsy Emma'

How can a spider help you to shoot well - ask Emma Johns !!

Having seen a spider dangling from the acoustic microphone in front of her at the National Inter Counties DTL, Emma decided to sing 'Itsy Bitsy Spider' and then shoots 24/72 - 25/73 - 25/73 - 22/65 (probably stopped singing !!) = 96/283.

I am not sure what the rest of her squad thought but having won the Ladies Team event with friend Karen Rees and beating her other half Darrin Donaldson who finished on 96/279 - Emma all I can say is .................. brilliant.