A planning application has been approved to relocate a rifle and pistol club.

In a planning committee meeting on Tuesday at Basildon Council, committee members approved a planning application to relocate the Basildon Rifle and Pistol Club, currently in Gardiners Lane South, to Courtauld Road.

The committee also agreed to allow the club to build new facilities on the site. This includes a clubhouse with a 25m shooting range and four outdoor shooting ranges.

Andrew Schrader, Conservative councillor representing Billericay East and a member of the planning committee, said: “Our main concerns for the new clubhouse is the noise factor, because obviously noise will carry.

“We put in a requirement for the club to keep the noise level below 55 decibels to ensure residents in the closest neighbourhood aren’t affected by the noise.

“Fifty-five is equivalent to the noise of someone living near the motorway. However we also factored in that the noise of firing shots will be in intervals so it will not affect residents.

A planning report read: “The application site is vacant and undeveloped and is unlikely to now be attractive to a developer for use for industrial purposes.”

The nearest residential neighbourhoods are the Hovefields traveller site in Hovefields Avenue which is 255m away, and the Framptons Farmhouse in Church Lane.

Several residents had submitted objections to the application, saying the noise will cause disturbance to the area, as well as increasing traffic to the area.

Stuart Allen, Conservative councillor representing Crouch, said: “The council has made sure the rifle and pistol club abides to council’s condition to keep the noise at a reasonable level. The sand banks around the site will absorb the bullets.

“The rifles will be stored inside the club so residents can be assured of safety.”