APPROVAL has been given for the creation of a police firearms training centre near Portishead.

North Somerset Council’s north area committee voted yesterday (Thurs) to give the green light to the plans for the facility at Black Rock Quarry off Valley Road.

Avon and Somerset Constabulary’s proposals include a 100m, eight-lane indoor firing range, a 50m, eight-lane indoor firing range and a means of entry tactics house.

Now the full planning application has been approved by North Somerset Council, it will have to be given the final nod by the Government’s Secretary of State due to the fact the plans fall inside the green belt.

The proposals include creating a new internal access road and a parking area for 24 cars, eight minibuses and 16 cycles at the front of the site.

The main building will be partly buried to reduce its ‘visual intrusion’ and noise, it will have a brown roof to blend with the landscape and a host of measures will be installed to allow renewable energy generation.

The facility is due to be completed in early 2014, when it will be used by officers from the Avon and Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire constabularies.