All eyes in the shooting community have been focused on Wild Justice’s demands for a judicial review into game bird release, but a lesser publicised planning decision could also have big implications.
The authorities recently rejected an appeal against an enforcement notice which restricted the number of shooting days on a much-respected South Downs estate.
It was deemed that shooting for more than 28 days a year (ie that permitted under the ‘General Development Order’) would constitute a change of land use from ‘agriculture’ to ‘mixed’, leading the inspector to reject the appeal.
With the wider public’s attitude towards the sport being, often at best, ambivalent, I worry this could indicate that planning authorities and the legal system will take a potentially tougher line on shooting elsewhere…..
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Article by Alex Macdonald Open PDF