A LOCAL landowner has voiced his objection to plans for a new veterinary clinic for horses in Marlborough. 

Drs Andre Buthe and Christiana Ober want to build the clinic on Poulton Mill, which sits in the North Wessex Downs Area of Oustanding Natural Beauty. 

If approved, they would construct two new buildings at the site as well as vehicle access and river crossings.

It comes after the news that Wiltshire Wildlife Trust has purchased the nearby Bay Meadows thanks to grants and public funding totalling almost £400,000. 

READ MORE: Wiltshire Wildlife finally buy Bay Meadows after almost £400k of grants and funding

Martin Ephson OBE, who owns land on the other side of the river, worried that the plans will create “lasting and irreversible damage” if they go ahead.   

He said: “Unfortunately, there is a small stretch of the river just downstream from the stretch in question, that does not belong to me and runs through a 2-acre paddock, identified for preservation in the soon to be adopted, Marlborough Neighborhood Plan, that is possibly going to be adversely impacted by a proposed development.    

“The Marlborough Town Council recently voted in favour of the application in the full knowledge that the area had been earmarked for special protection in the Marlborough Neighbourhood plan and sets a precedent that AONBs in this part of Wiltshire is open for business development.

“I personally am not against an additional equine facility in the area but it just needs to be sighted in the right place, which this is not.” 

The site for the main building would be in the paddock area along the southern side of the River Og, and east of the gardens of the properties along Tin Pit.   

The building would be a multi-purpose barn accommodating stables, feed, machinery, and general storage.   

Marlborough Town Council's planning committee gave its approval to the plans in April this year, despite having earlier objected to it. 

There were also objections from the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, Action for the River Kennet, and the countryside charity CPRE.  

A spokesperson for the council stated: “Marlborough Town Council has no objection to this application subject to the Officer's satisfaction that heritage assets, the landscape and environment, and the historic setting will be protected as described in comments already raised by other consultees.”