Appeal to allow the construction of a riding school at a site in the National Park at Skymers, Minstead, is allowed.

AN appeal to construct a riding school on a site in Minstead currently used as a paddock has been allowed.

Caroline Beaumont had applied to transform land at Skymers, Stoney Cross Plain Road, into a manège.

It was refused by the national park authority on the grounds it would have a “detrimental effect” on the landscape.

It ruled the location of it would be “visually prominent and intrusive within the context of the immediately surrounding area, and by reason of its proximity to the boundary, would result in an intensification of use detrimental to the amenity of the occupiers of the neighbouring property”.

However, a government planning inspector ruled against the NPA’s decision, saying: “The proposal would maintain the open character of the wider area, in which it is not uncommon to find manèges within paddocks and associated with dwellings.”