It could be the end of the trail for a riding school in Colden Common, built without planning permission.

The indoor centre, at Bow Lake Farm, Portsmouth Road, faces demolition after the development control committee of Winchester City Council refused an application from the owners to retain it.

It was built four years ago, despite being refused planning permission and enforcement notices were served. Owners, Bow Lake Farm and Equestrian Centre, appealed against the order to demolish the centre at a public inquiry in 2001, but lost the case.

Said committee member, Patrick Davies: "We went through all the trouble of serving enforcement notices-we must not show weakness now."

Council enforcement officer, Charlie Robson, said the indoor riding school represented an intensification of business activity on a site originally agreed to be for agricultural use only and added fuel to the owner's arguments for residential development, despite a legal agreement that no accommodation would be provided on the countryside site. In addition, the building did not fit in visually with the surrounding landscape.

Mr Robson added that, following an inquiry as to the state of play regarding the enforcement notice, the response from the stables was simply to put forward four planning applications-one of which was that the riding school be retained.

The other three consisted of two new planning proposals; one, to convert the first floor of a stable building to accommodation for a stable hand, the other to erect a new block consisting of four stables.

A further retrospective planning application was received for a manager's flat in another part of a stable building. All four proposals were rejected by the committee on the basis that they went against original planning policy for the site.

Mark Jackson, for Bow Lake Farm and Equestrian Centre, said that as the business had developed, situations changed and there was a need for accommodation on site, where 18 horses, worth £200,000, were kept, not least for security reasons.

He added that the indoor school was a valuable resource for trainee riders and recently "broken-in" horses.

But chairman of planners, Georgina Busher, said the committee had to remain firm, otherwise anyone could start setting up inappropriate businesses in the countryside. "That's why we have been so careful not to grant a stable and a tackroom for a girl with a couple of ponies."

After the meeting, Mr Jackson said his clients were considering appealing.