A plan to demolish an equestrian centre to build new homes on the Green Belt has been met with objections in Buckinghamshire village.

The owners of Austens Farm on Twitchells Lane between in Jordans have proposed to turn the farm into private homes as part of a planning application submitted to Buckinghamshire Council.

If approved, the existing equestrian buildings and outdoor menage used by Sacha Hamilton Equestrian centre could be demolished to build five detached homes with parking and landscaping, the application shows.

The size of the proposed homes varies from 2,595 sq.ft. to 2,645 sq.ft.

Development on the Green Belt is acceptable if it falls within the test of not having “a greater impact on the openness of the Green Belt than the existing development,” the planning statement argued.

So far, the plans have attracted 36 letters of objection on the Buckinghamshire Council planning portal, including from the Parish Council and Sacha Hamilton, who has been a tenant at the site for 23 years.

She pleaded with Buckinghamshire Council to dismiss the plans, saying in her letter that taking the amenity away “would be hugely detrimental to the health and well being of some of the people that use and enjoy this outdoor recreational facility,” including riders with “severe disabilities.”

She wrote: “The green open space is a source of much enjoyment for the community and so to destroy this through building large houses on the site would be a terrible shame for the local community and would be seen as a removal of a much appreciated local amenity.

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“Furthermore, the fields provide a demarcation between the villages of Jordans and Chalfont St Giles. To allow the building of 5 millionaire mansions would take away that demarcation and fall squarely within the definition of urban sprawl - exactly what the government and the local council are committed to prevent.”

Alongside the 15 staff currently employed, the equestrian centre uses the services of “many local small businesses” such as saddlers, equine physios, feed suppliers and handymen, Sacha wrote.

“I am also proud that I have built up a successful business, despite my own disability in terms of being severely dyslexic. I would not be able to set up a new yard elsewhere at my age and I would not be able to start a new career given I have devoted my entire working life to the pursuit of equine care and riding excellence,” the letter said.  

Rural Solutions, the agent on behalf of the owners Mrs and Mr Fowler, said in a statement: “The planning application has been carefully prepared to be sensitive and appropriate to the local area, with the applicants commissioning plans from locally based award-winning architects and landscape architects.

“The new homes will be constructed using red brick and timber cladding as materials that are appropriate to the local area and will sit within a landscape setting, which will contribute to a calculated biodiversity net gain of 135 percent. A number of renewable energy and energy efficient measures are proposed by the architects.

“The proposed new homes have been carefully sited with reference to the existing footprint of existing buildings on the site, reducing the spread of development across the site and ensuring that the proposal is in accordance with planning policies on the redevelopment of previously developed sites. This high-quality proposal will deliver much-needed new housing for the local area through the reuse of an existing site.”