EAST Hampshire planners have refused an application by Healthy Hounds Canine Hydrotherapy to replace existing stables with a new building, to be used as a canine hydrotherapy pool, at Frith End Lodge, off the A325, near Binsted.

In reaching their decision planners pointed out that the business and building would be located outside the settlement policy boundary and could see no proven need for its countryside location. Furthermore, it would not represent a reasonable expansion or intensification of an established industrial or business use within the existing site.

Nor would the parking provision for the business and the residential property meet East Hampshire District Council’s (EHDC) vehicle parking standards and would, it was felt, result in “an unacceptable impact” on the highway, all of which would be contrary to EHDC’s joint core strategy (Local Plan).

The applicant’s proposal would replace a double stable building, which is over 30 years old, with a new building, in order to provide a “small, discreet, therapeutic service for dogs that are recovering from surgery, have a long-term condition or are obese and who will benefit from hydrotherapy.”