2019-03-12 S&O Agenda - Item 6 - Attachment 1 - Regional Facilities Plan for Difficult to Locate Sports

Regional Facilities Plan for Difficult to Locate Sports (including Implementation Priorities) (Final Draft – February 2019)




    3.4 SHOOTING SPORTS
    There are a number of variations and therefore facility                ӹӹ 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.                               ӹӹ SSAA Qld is seeking a new site for a regional/
    ӹӹ Rifle Shooting                                                         state facility in Wide Bay area, which will assist in
    ӹӹ Shotgun – clay target and sporting clays                               meeting the needs for regional facility provision
    ӹӹ Pistol Shooting                                                        generally.
    ӹӹ Sporting Shooters                                                   ӹӹ Clubs are generally satisfied with their facilities,
                                                                              and many would be reluctant to relocate, given the
    Information from shooting related peak/ State level                       connection with and level of investment in their
    organisations, regional associations and local clubs                      current location and facility.
    indicated that current and emerging trends impacting                   ӹӹ Through the site investigations and consultation for
    (or potentially impacting) on shooting sports are as                      this plan, it became apparent that the development
    follows:                                                                  of a single regional facility that meets the needs of
    ӹӹ Continual growth in demand (including from                             all disciplines and aligns with the facility planning
       visitors) across all shooting disciplines, clay target                 and development needs of peak associations and
       shoots, pistol shooting, etc.                                          clubs is extremely unlikely to eventuate and may
    ӹӹ Costs associated with participating in the sport are                   not result in a regional shooting facility that could
       always increasing and the cost of running a range is                   be the ‘home’ 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
    ӹӹ 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
       There is also increasing interest from prospective                  recreational vs competition use means that the need
       members who are not aware it can be a family                        for regional level facilities should consider:
       orientated sport where juniors from 11 years of age                 ӹӹ Facility requirements for shooting sports are
       to seniors can participate with other members of                       specific to the discipline, with technical standards
       their family. Increasing interest from females has                     and weapons licensing approvals required.
       also been noted.                                                    ӹӹ To service the broader SEQ region and the
    ӹӹ Shooting is an option for those who are not                            State, there has been significant investment
       physically capable of engaging in high levels of                       in the Belmont facility. As a result of this past
       agility or physical strength/ fitness required for                     investment and multiple advantages of the site
       sports such as soccer or football.                                     there was further investment for its host role in
    ӹӹ Club facilities need to be expanded, although there                    2018 Commonwealth Games. Duplication of that
       have been recent improvements at some ranges.                          capacity is not recommended, rather complementary
    ӹӹ Media exposure of pistol shooting at the                               development to cater for additional disciplines
       Commonwealth and Olympic Games has                                     should be the focus.
       contributed to the image of the sport. The                          ӹӹ State legislation for licensing and compliance
       government’s push for active participation in sports                   means that access to local facilities and clubs is
       has increased participation.                                           highly desirable. The need for regional facilities for
    ӹӹ Firearms safety courses are in constant demand and                     competitive events is driven more by sporting needs
       the number of participants has not declined.                           of the individual disciplines. However, the difficult
    ӹӹ Participation is generally static within the                           to locate nature of shooting sports means that most
       disciplines, with growth in Sporting Shooters                          facilities are servicing a regional catchment and
       (SSAA), and changes/ shifts in the demographic                         this helps with the viability of club-based facilities.
       profile of participants.




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