Planning controversy over shoot flightponds

The owners of Eskdalemuir have gone to Holyrood for retrospective permission for their duck ponds, but locals are pushing back hard

There’s a row going on in Dumfries and Galloway, one of Britain’s heartlands of duck shooting and a destination for wildfowlers from all over Britain. The owners of Eskdalemuir have apparently gone over the heads of the local council and asked the Scottish government at Holyrood for retrospective permission for two commercial flightponds. The applicants cite delays in the planning process for their decision.

Eskadalemuir, alert readers may remember, is home to Gardners Guns, the team that set up a super-long rifle range in the teeth of fierce opposition from local Buddhist monks, who claimed that the noise of shooting was disrupting their natural harmony and meditation.