New riding centre is hot to trot

Ravelrig Riding for the Disabled (RRDA) was yesterday given planning permission in principle for the arena at its site on the Ravelrig Estate in Balerno.

The go-ahead was given after developer CALA agreed to gift the land to the charity if it was given planning permission for three houses on the estate.

Permission was also given for the houses by the city's development management sub-committee yesterday.

RRDA organiser Barbara Johnstone said she was delighted with the news. "It's absolutely fantastic," she said. "Working with architects will be exciting, but securing the funding is frightening. I guess we do that with a lot of hard work and a lot of charm and grovelling. I don't know how long it will take, I don't know exactly how much it will cost, but you've got to aim high."

The charity currently occupies the land on a grace-and-favour basis, with no formal lease. Ms Johnstone said that the chance to "buy" the land from CALA for just 1 would enable it to plan for the future.

The proposed arena will measure 60m by 20m and include a viewing gallery. Detailed plans will have to be submitted for further planning permission before any construction can begin.

The centre is run with the help of 75 volunteers, and more than 100 riders a week use its facilities.

Ms Johnstone said that creating a covered arena would mean the it no longer had to turn riders away during the winter months.

"It's just going to make a huge difference. On November 24 we had 16 inches of snow and the ponies have only been brought back into work in the last couple of weeks because we had to manually get rid of what was left of the snow.

"Prior to today they were unrideable because they haven't been used since mid-November, so they've got so much excess energy. You've got to work the horses back in, so an indoor school will let us have continuous riding.

"We've got to sing CALA's praises, they've been absolutely fantastic. For them to gift us the land is wonderful."

Land director at CALA Derek Lawson said: "There is overwhelming local support for the RRDA, and this was very apparent through the planning process. The approval of these applications will enable the RRDA to provide its services year-round, and allows it to plan for the future with a new indoor arena being the focus. In addition to gifting the site to the RRDA, CALA will start work on the three new homes in spring 2011."

If you can help with the fundraising for the new arena, contact [email protected]