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We are delighted to report that on 6 June 2012, Wycombe District Council rejected this application because the development would cause adverse visual detriment to the special landscape character and scenic beauty of the Chilterns AONB and would harm the rural character and appearance of the surrounding open countryside, and the access track would visually scar and detract from the scenic beauty and special landscape character of the Chilterns AONB.
We have objected to plans to build stables and an associated ‘barn’ on a field adjacent to Grays Lane and Ibstone Common in Bucks.
The applicant, Ms Jo Roadknight, lives in the nearby village of Skirmett and wants somewhere to keep three horses. The planning application has been submitted to Wycombe District Council. The ‘barn’ is to accommodate a horse trailer/lorry, a tack room, shower room, tea station, and storage space.
Says Kate Ashbrook, general secretary: ‘We are dismayed that there is no mention in the application that access to the site is across Ibstone Common. The track over the common to the field is completely unsuitable for the traffic which will be generated by the development. The route is steep and rough.
‘Vehicles will churn up the terrain and degrade this part of the common. The applicant cannot surface the track without the permission of the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the landowner. There is public right to walk over the whole common and this vehicular use of the track will interfere with the exercise of that right. The applicant seems not to care about the effect that this development will have on common land.
‘Moreover, the proposed buildings will be an eyesore in this beautiful landscape, in a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The field is attractive, open land, with a lovely slope. There is a public footpath along the side of the field and the development will be intrusively visible from the path and from the common which runs alongside the field, spoiling the rural vistas.
‘Such a development is out of keeping with the tranquil, rural, beautiful landscape and will interfere with public enjoyment. It is contrary to policies in the local plan and to the designation of the area as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.’
Ibstone Parish Council, the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Wormsley Estate which owns Ibstone Common, the Chiltern Society and local residents have objected.