South West Equine Protection receive go ahead for equestrian centre
Westcountry Land has secured planning permission for a brand new equestrian centre for South West Equine Protection (SWEP).
The charity helps moorland ponies from Dartmoor and Bodmin Moor who are suffering from neglect or injury. Staff rescue, treat and rehome ponies on a loan scheme and are currently working in a number of different yards around Yelverton.
The new equestrian centre will be built in Yelverton and will feature an outdoor sand school, a barn and a round pen. The stabling will include an isolation stable block to ensure diseases are not spread to the other ponies.
For the first time, the administrative office will share a site with the ponies, so the staff can see exactly how valuable their hard work is.
The centre will bring many benefits says SWEP’s Managing Director Adele Cassidy:
“Having all of our facilities in one place will save significant amounts of time and money, as we will no longer have to travel to the many different yards in the area.
"Most importantly of all, the new centre will be better for the ponies. We’ll have more time to spend with them since we won’t lose time on travel. This means that we will be able to progress the ponies faster and safer with the purpose built facilities. This in turn will mean the ponies could be rehomed sooner, making room for new cases if needed.”
SWEP chose to work with Westcountry Land because the developer offered more than a design service. Adele explains,
“Westcountry Land gave us more than a drawing, they gave us an excellent design and then secured planning permission for the centre despite local opposition. John managed the whole process for us, which let us spend our time focussing on the ponies.”
John Schuttkacker, a co-director of Westcountry Land, particularly enjoyed this project.
“SWEP is such an important charity, making a huge difference to the lives of moorland ponies. It was a pleasure to design the perfect space for this type of work and we’re delighted to have secured planning permission.”
The charity currently has 50 ponies in its care and has cared for over 400 since it began.
Work on the equestrian centre is due to start shortly, with hopes that SWEP could move into it before Christmas.
