A consultation was held recently with Jersey Sport about safe re-connection for sport in the island. Of particular note were some questions raised about the “indoor” classification of JPC ranges:
Questions:
- How do you decide what constitutes an ‘indoor’ venue? The Jersey Pistol Club outdoor range is classed as indoor because it has a roof on it although is open to the elements completely on one side (and very windy!). Can you advise which law you are referring to when categorising indoor/outdoor venues?
- Two issues on Martin’s comments, an outdoor club with covered firing point, is deemed indoor, even with ‘Atlantic wind’ ventilating the covered space. Those outdoor clubs have moved firing points to outside when this does not then render the range unsafe. The true indoor-indoor facilities are totally enclosed (with ventilation to remove shooting pollutants). So the issue is not just what is indoor, but also what is the exertion level that prevents all sports returning to using indoor halls
- Target Shooting on indoor ranges is low intensity since participants are stationary. We can space out individuals and stagger range use, however waiting on a fit all solution for all sports put over 10 clubs at risk.
Answers:
- Thank you for raising this issue. JS are fully aware and have been challenging this for several months with no movement on the law. This will be directly fed into the consultation process as a key issue.
- The definition of what constitutes indoors is defined in law. The law can sometimes be a blunt instrument and cause some unintended consequences and controls. The situation regarding the Pistol Club will be reviewed as part of this process.
- Noted, thank you. This will be fed into the consultation process.
This should clarify why we are still operating under strong restrictions, and although this doesn’t give us any idea of when we will be returning the ranges to business as usual, Jersey Sport are aware of our concerns and they are being raised at the appropriate level. Hopefully we will be able to get shooting again sooner rather than later in terms of sport re-connection.
The full re-connection for sport meeting can be watched here and the PDF with questions and answers is available here