2018-10-09 Services & Organisation Agenda

SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA   9 OCTOBER 2018




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SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                                9 OCTOBER 2018

         Regional Facilities Plan for Difficult to Locate Sports (Consultation Draft - August 2018)

              3.4     SHOOTING SPORTS

             There are a number of variations and therefore facility   » Relatively high number of facilities and clubs in
             implications within the four broad disciplines, with         shooting disciplines, mostly operating at the local
             differences influenced by weapon calibre, length of          level.
             range and International governing rules.                  » SSAA Qld is seeking a new site for a regional/
             » Rifle Shooting                                             state facility in Wide Bay area, which will assist in
             » Shotgun - clay target and sporting clays                   meeting the needs for regional facility provision
             » Pistol Shooting                                            generally.
             » Sporting Shooters                                       » Clubs are generally satisfied with their facilities,
                                                                          many of which are reluctant to relocate, given the
             Information from twenty-three (23) shooting related          connection with and level of investment in their
             peak/ State level organisations, regional associations       current location and facility.
             and local clubs indicated that current and emerging       » Through the site investigations and consultation for
             trends impacting (or potentially impacting) on shooting     this plan, it became apparent that the development
             sports are as follows:                                       of a single regional facility that meets the brief and
             >» Continual growth in demand (including from               aligns with the facility planning and development
                visitors) across all shooting disciplines, clay target    needs of peak associations and clubs is extremely
                shoots, pistol shooting, etc.                             unlikely to eventuate and may not result in a
             » Costs associated with participating in the sport are       regional shooting facility that would be the ‘home’
                always increasing and the cost of running a range is      of a number of relocated clubs.
                constantly growing and remains a challenge for the
                clubs to remain viable without increasing fees too     3.4.1   Need for Regional Competition
                dramatically for members.                                      Facilities
             » An ageing demographic in the area has contributed       The range of disciplines and number of facilities in
                to increased demand for shooting sports ranges,        the study area, along with diversity in aspirations for
                including increasing interest from prospective         recreational vs competition use means that the need
                members who enquire that it is a family orientated     for regional level facilities should consider:
                sport where juniors from 11 years of age to seniors    » Facility requirements for shooting sports are
                can participate with other members of their family.       specific to the discipline, with technical standards
                Increasing interest from females.                        and weapons licensing approvals required.
             » Shooting is an option for those who are not             » To service the broader SEQ region and the State,
                physically capable of engaging in high levels of         there has been significant investment in the
                agility or physical strength/ fitness required for        Belmont facility as a result of the scale of the
                sports such as soccer or football.                       facility and host role in 2018 Commonwealth
             » Club facilities needed to be expanded, although            Games. Duplication of that capacity is not
                there have been recent improvements at some               recommended, rather complementary development
                ranges.                                                  to cater for additional disciplines should be the
             » Media exposure of pistol shooting at the                  focus.
                Commonwealth and Olympic Games has                     » State legislation for licensing and compliance
                contributed to the image of the sport. The                means that access to local facilities and clubs is
                government's push for active participation in sports      highly desirable. The need for regional facilities for
                has increased participation.                             competitive events is driven more by sporting needs
             » Firearms safety courses are in constant demand and        of the individual disciplines. However, the difficult
                the number of participants has not declined.             to locate nature of shooting sports means that most
             » Participation is generally static within the              facilities are servicing a regional catchment and
                disciplines, with growth in Sporting Shooters            this helps with the viability of club based facilities.
                (SSAA), and changes/ shifts in the demographic
                profile of participants.

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