A father's bid to enhance his daughter's chances of becoming a successful horse rider by building a floodlit equestrian menage on Green Belt land at Frankby, has yet to clear planning hurdles and opposition from the local community.

Many of the objections to the scheme are against the scale of the venture, which include an agricultural barn standing almost five metres high.

The proposed menage - 60 metres by 25 metres - is considered by planners to be bigger than might normally be considered appropriate for the stabling and grazing of horses in private use.

But the applicant has provided documentation in support of the scheme - particularly relating to his daughter's aspirations to be a successful rider.

The application is an amended version of an earlier, and bigger, proposal, which was refused.

Objectors claim the scale of the proposal remains "excessive" and that the development would have a detrimental impact on the openness of the Green Belt and the setting of Frankby Conservation Area because of the scale, materials and intrusion of light in a countryside setting.

Wirral Wildlife have brought the attention of the local planning authority to the adjacent Frankby Cemetery Site of Biological Importance containing badger setts.

Badgers, say the group, might forage in the application site and could be at risk during construction work. They also mention that great crested newts are known to exist in the wider area and that populations of bats are know to exist locally.

They claim that the proposed floodlights could impact on the bats.

A recommendation by planners to approve the scheme will go before Wirral planning committee next Thursday.

In their conclusion planners say the siting and scale of the agricultural barn and the menage would not have an unacceptable impact on the landscape. The development would not be unduly prominent not would it appear obtrusive in the landscape.

They add: "The council is satisfied that the proposed development would not erode the essentially open and rural character of the Green Belt in this location."