Plan to turn public Finningley field into stables set to be approved despite local opposition

Doncaster Council is set to approve planning permission to turn a Countryside Policy Area field in Finningley into a private stable.

Councillors will vote on the change to the land North of Bawtry Road in a planning meeting on Tuesday, 10 January.

The entire 10 acre site will turn into a set of five stables with equestrian land attached.

The original planning application received 20 objections from local residents, and an amended version received a further 18.

Finningley Parish Council has objected to the development, expressing concern that it could be a precursor to residential building in the area.

They also stated that the agricultural tenants of the land should have the security of tenure without threat of it being taken over.

The main complaint of residents is that the development would benefit nobody except the new owners, which they claim goes against the council’s Local Plan.

The plan outlines that “any new proposals must be seen to support a prosperous rural economy”.

Residents have highlighted that a rural economy could be better supported with the land’s current use of produce farming.

The council however claimed that equestrian activity is “one of the uses characteristic to the countryside”.

All relevant consultations such as Ecology, Tree Officers and the Environment Agency also passed without objections.

If the development goes ahead as planned, construction will take place in the next three years but presumably as soon as possible.