news, local-news, samuels run, collector shooting range

The plan for the Samuels Run firing range near Collector has been withdrawn by the proponent. The planned shooting range had the community ‘up in arms,’ attracting 49 submissions in opposition to it during an exhibition period earlier this year. The shooting range was proposed for an area on the Collector Road, 4km from the village, by Australian Target Systems (ATS). A Queanbeyan-Palerang Council spokesman confirmed Australian Target Systems had retracted their application on June 18. "Council had commenced assessment but had not yet made a determination on the development application at the time it was withdrawn," the spokesman said. Collector resident Greg Akhurst welcomed the withdrawal, but had some concerns that the DA would resurface. “After an analysis of our submissions, the council set some exam questions for the proponent and then we received letters from the the council saying the DA had been withdrawn,” he said. “The council wanted a better acoustic report and ATS to address the merit issues that had been raised by the community. “Our principal objection, from the legal advice we sought, is that the DA is not lawful under the LEP or the NSW ISEP. We believe they have withdrawn it to reconsider their position. Our community would have preferred it to go through to resolution because that makes it difficult in future for them to make submissions.” Another resident James McKay said whether the range is lawful should be examined by the applicant before re-lodging a DA. “The threshold issue of whether this is a lawful shooting range seems to be an impossible bar for them to jump over,” Mr McKay said. “Correspondence we have had from NSW Police is that they acknowledge it was not a lawful shooting range. “Objectors also wrote to the Minister of Defence asking whether such a range was necessary to fill the gap and they received a reply from the department saying it was not. It has caused a lot of stress and anxiety to the community so it would be better to test the threshold issue first before putting the community through that again.” The Goulburn Post contacted Australian Target Systems for comment but a response was not forthcoming by the time of going to press.

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