Those of us affected by the perennial gunfire noise from the RAF’s Firing Range will have noticed that after a relatively quiet period over the winter months the ‘shooting season’ has started again in earnest. Perhaps the RAF only conducts live firing training when the weather is nice, even though the general requirement is to be trained for all-weather conflict.
We all completely understand that RAF personnel need to be trained – that is not the issue here. The issue is the way the RAF has chosen to deliver the increased training requirement – resulting from the expansion of RAF Brize Norton – by increasing the use of the Range without consideration to the noise impact on this community. Some of you will remember the lack of an impact assessment is exactly what happened back in 2012/13 with the arrival of Hercules Engine Ground Run (EGR) noise, which drowned this village with noise day and night until we (with much help from David Cameron MP when Prime Minister) forced the RAF to take effective noise reduction measures. Hercules EGR noise is now no longer an issue, which shows that determined community action can be successful without detriment to the operational effectiveness of RAF Brize Norton.
This time last year the noise onslaught from the Range was so bad that the Black Bourton Environmental Noise Committee (BBENC) decided that on behalf of this community we needed to again engage with the RAF to seek noise mitigation action – our intermittent previous attempts through the RAF Brize Norton Local Consultation Working Group (LCWG) over the past 7 years having led nowhere. We have therefore been in regular email contact with the Base over the past 12 months, and they assure us: ‘At RAF Brize Norton we are working hard to reduce the noise from the Range, particularly at night and during weekends’. Unfortunately, the RAF continue to refuse to tell us what noise-reducing measures they have implemented, if any, despite our repeated requests.
The RAF also refuses to conduct a retrospective Environmental Impact Assessment of the significantly increased Range noise footprint – something they were legally bound to conduct but neglected to do during the planning phase for the expansion of RAF Brize Norton.
As I write, there has been firing each day for the past 10 working days, as indicated by the RAF Brize Norton website. There is no indication of how long this tempo will last or its intensity. According to the RAF Brize Norton website they now have 5,800 active Service personnel post-Brize expansion who need to be trained annually and, with a throughput of up to 25 personnel per day through the Range, we are informed that means the Range will be active between 12 and 18 weekdays during a month (ie an average of 15 weekdays per month).
We will continue to monitor the noise, look forward to reading the RAF’s noise report when issued, and will update you on the subsequent meeting with the Wing Commander (Officer Commanding Base Support Wing).
Richard
R BETTERDIDGE