Proposals to build a stable and storage block with a riding arena on grazing land near a moorland village have been rejected.

Mrs M Conolly applied for planning permission for the buildings on protected green belt land at her property Sea View in Tockholes Road, Tockholes.

But Blackburn with Darwen Council planners have refused to approve them and the associated arena or manege.

The decision notice says: "Owing to the scale of the development and visual prominence of the site, the proposed development would fail to adequately preserve the openness of the Green Belt.

"Owing to the visual prominence of the site and lack of landscaping opportunities, the proposed development would fail to make a positive contribution to the local area and would have an unacceptable impact upon the character of the surrounding landscape."

A report by planning officer Christian Barton says: "The application site is a parcel of agricultural land located within the hamlet of Tockholes and the Green Belt.

"The wider site comprises of 12.6 acres and is currently used for grazing.

"This application involves the erection of a mixed-use building and construction of a manège for private use.

"The proposed manège would have a footprint of 1500 square metres.

"Relatively significant engineering operations would also be required in order to facilitate the development yet the extent of those works is not clear from the submitted plans.

"The proposed building would form a sizeable addition within the landscape and it would only loosely relate to nearby buildings in a spatial sense.

"Equally, the proposed manège would have a large footprint and be constructed on sloping land that does not currently benefit from any natural screening opportunities.

"The development as a whole would therefore occupy a large area of this exposed and currently open site.

"Those impacts would be exacerbated by the level of engineering operations that would be required.

"Moreover, a number of similar development proposals have been previously refused on this site, which would arguably have been less impactful on the openness of the Green Belt.

"The proposals involve the construction of numerous structures and when considered collectively they would significantly alter the appearance of the site.

"The development would appear incongruous within its immediate setting and visually prominent from a number of far reaching views throughout the wider landscape."