Bolshekolpanskoye Rural Settlement is a rural settlement in Gatchina Municipal District of the Leningrad Oblast in northern Russia. The Bolshekolpanskoye Rural Settlement contains 16 villages. The administrative center is the village of Bolshiye Kolpany (Great Kolpany).
The Bolshekolpanskoye Rural Settlement is near the center of the Gatchina District, bordered on the north by the Pudostskoye Rural Settlement, on the north-east by the Novyi Svet Rural Settlement and the City of Gatchina, on the east by the Kobrin Rural Settlement, on the south by the Rozhdestvenskoye Rural Settlement, on the south-west by Volosovsky Municipal District, on the west by the Elizavetinskoye Rural Settlement, and on the north-west by the Voyskovitskoye Rural Settlement.
The Bolshekolpanskoye Rural Settlement covers . From Great Kolpany to the Gatchina District center is . The following highways run through the Settlement:
The Bolshekolpanskoye Rural Settlement is located on the Izhora Plateau, thus there are very few ponds or lakes in its area. The largest ponds are artificial ones which have resulted from the infilling of stone quarries in Paritsa and Bornitskaya. The Rural Settlement includes the headwaters of Sivoritsky Creek, which joins the Suyda River at the village of Paritsa.
The presence on the plateau of limestone and dolomite, creating a karst landscape, has led to the formation of large karst caves. These caves, which are sealed off from the atmosphere, were used beginning in Soviet times for the storage of natural gas reserves.
The area of the Bolshekolpanskoye Rural Settlement was part of the heartland of Ingria, home of the pre-Russian Izhorians and Votes, peoples who are now on the brink of extinction.
In 1973, under the Soviet Union, the Bolshekolpanskoye Village Council was formed as part of the Gatchina District (Gatchina Raion).
On January 18, 1994, by Order Number 10 ("On Changes in the Administrative-Territorial Districts of the Leningrad Region") of the Leningrad Region (Leningrad Oblast), the Bolshekolpanskoye Village Council was redesignated as Bolshekolpanskoye Parish (the other village councils in the District were likewise redesignated by this order).
On January 1, 2006, in accordance with Regional Law Number 133âÂÂ<small>OZ</small> of December 16, 2004, Bolshekolpanskoye Parish was redesignated as Bolshekolpanskoye Rural Settlement.
The Bolshekolpanskoye Rural Settlement contains 85 industrial or service enterprises (as of 2015), the largest being the Gatchina Company, which owns more than a third of the Settlement () and which is mainly engaged in agricultural production â dairy farming, potatoes, vegetables. The Gatchina Feed Mill, in the village of Malye Kolpany (Lesser Kolpany), is one of Russia's largest producers of animal feed.
The caverns in the karst continue to be used to store natural gas. There are also active dolomite quarries. The Settlement also contains various small businesses, engaged in pursuits such as trade, personal services, repair and maintenance of motor vehicles, and so forth. The Sivoritsy Airfield is located in the village of Nikolskoye.