Cr Ian Stubbs will introduce an alternative motion at tonight’s shire council meeting designed to assist the club, which is facing eviction from its premises as its lease expired on February 23.

He wants the shire to investigate a portion of land operated by Water Corporation as a possible location.

Shire officers have recommended that the club be given a month’s notice to cease its recreational activities on the reserve and that it be required to remove all its belongings from the site within three months.

Cr Stubbs is seeking to have the club’s lease extended, initially until December 31, 2010 (air pistol shooting only), or until a suitable site is identified and made available.

If a suitable site was not identified by that date then the lease was to be extended annually from then on until such time as one was identified and made available to the club.

The extension of lease documentation was to contain a provision that the club should have access to the indoor shooting range and toilets only.

Cr Stubbs also wants the CEO to investigate the possibility of acquiring the western portion of location 590 or the eastern portion of location 1478 (the areas of those locations not comprising the compensating basin), south of the airstrip on Vasse Highway, from the Water Corporation to enable one of the areas to be used as a site for the club.

As part of the investigations the CEO should carry out enquiries with the aviation authorities to determine whether it was acceptable to have a pistol club located in or near an airport flight path.

An Ambergate resident who contacted the Mail but did not want to be named for fear of retribution, claimed the shire had offered sites to the pistol club in the past but they had been deemed unacceptable.

He said the most concerning issue with the site was that it was a contaminated-investigation area and that ratepayers should not be left with the burden of cleaning up the site.