Refusal of horse-riding plan 'vindictive' (From Gazette Series)

Refusal of horse-riding plan 'vindictive'

THE OWNER of a farm in Hillesley has spoken out against the decision of councillors to turn down her application to develop a small horse-riding facility.

Members of Stroud District Council's development control committee voted to refuse permission for the project earlier this month.

Karen Joynson and her family feel aggrieved because they claim other similar riding venues have been built in the area without planning permission, while she has tried to go through the correct channels but has been rejected.

She said: "There seems to be a conspiracy against us. Councillors can't turn a planning application down on what could happen in the future. They have to look at the application in front of them."

Mrs Joynson wants to develop the site at Woodmans Farm, Hawkesbury Road, so she can teach people to ride.

She is qualified to the level of the Intermediate Instructors Teaching and Stable Managers exam with the British Horse Society, but has to use what she sees as substandard venues to teach at the moment because the riding arena at Woodmans Farm is only deemed suitable for her own private use.

Added Mrs Joynson: "I am not trying to run a riding school here. I earn a living from teaching people on their own horses, but I can't teach at my own site even though I get inundated with people wanting to use it."

Members of the development control committee turned the application down because they thought that the surrounding roads were inadequate and the site itself was unsustainable.

However, Mrs Joynson insists that the site is easily accessible from a bridleway, meaning that horses would not need to be on the roads, nor would anyone need to use vehicular transport.

She said: "The councillors were just looking for an excuse to turn the application down. There will only ever be as many as nine horses kept at the site and there will not be any additional building."

Planning officers at the council received ten letters of objection from residents of Hillesley, but from a population of 450 Mrs Joynson rates the level of opposition as low.

She thinks that a small minority of people who were backed by Hillesley and Tresham Parish Council have caused her plans to be scuppered.

Mrs Joynson added: "I seem to have vindictive neighbours who commute to their jobs elsewhere and don't give anything back to the countryside.

"Our holding is too small to earn a living from the land, so I have to try and make money from equestrianism.

"There are riding facilities in the area that have been built without planning permission and are dangerous, yet when we try to do the right thing we get penalised. It has just been an absolute nightmare."