RACEHORSE breeder and trainer Colin Rogers has won an appeal against Wiltshire Council to build dedicated stables at Braydon Fields Farm.

In July last year the 77-year-old, who has bred and trained racing horses in both Australia and the UK since 2002, applied for planning permission to build an equestrian building to house race training horses at the farm in Braydon, near Purton.

But on October 2013 Wiltshire Council refused planning permission on the grounds of the detrimental impact the development would have on the character and appearance of the area.

In April this year Mr Rogers then entered an appeal against this decision, arguing that Wiltshire Council’s grounds for refusal were wrong.

Mr Rogers said: “I breed horses and train race horses, but the British Horse Association doesn’t like having breeding stables and training stables in the same place, they like them to be separated.

“So I wanted planning permission to build a new site to train the horses from.

“The council initially refused planning permission and it’s been a long road but finally they have granted my appeal.

“It means I haven’t been able to train race horses for the past two years.

“The new site will include 12 new stables, a barn for feed, a barn for staff, a tack room and bathroom and shower facilities.”

On August 11, Wiltshire Council granted Mr Rogers the appeal after withdrawing their objection following a site visit by Robert Parker, an inspector appointed by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, on June 30.

In the decision notice issued by the council, Robert Parker said: “The buildings proposed under the current appeal would be located towards the northern boundary of the appellant’s land. Although the development would be visually divorced from the existing complex of buildings it would be situated at the edge of the field, alongside a mature hedgerow.

“Although the site itself is relatively open, the landscape is characterised by a strong pattern of hedgerows and mature hedgerow trees.

“The proposed development would sit comfortably within this landscape framework and its appearance would be compatible with the neighbouring equestrian paddocks and gallops and the wider rural surroundings. Accordingly, I conclude that the proposal would not cause material harm to the character or appearance of the area.”

To see the plans for yourself, visit www.wiltshire.gov.uk/planninganddevelopment.htm and search for application number 13/03667/FUL.