STAFF at the Fortune Centre of Riding Therapy are celebrating winning planning permission for a lodge building which will provide young people with learning difficulties with additional skills for independent living.

The log cabin will be built in the grounds of the Fortune Centre's Lanfranco Ostler Home in Garden Road, Burley. Director Jenifer Dixon said: "It's good news, and Burley's a great village. We're very pleased to be there."

The cabin, which will cost in the region of £50,000, will provide additional facilities for the eight students who live at the Ostler Home at any one time with two members of staff.

The building will have two bedrooms, which will allow them to experience a higher level of indepedence when they move into the community after the Fortune Centre course at Avon Tyrrell.

Burley Parish Council objected to the plans on the grounds the proposed use is not an excuse for new development. It would have an impact on the view from nearby Pound Lane and set an undesirable precedent, said councillors.

Nevertheless, the New Forest National Park Authority planning development control committee gave planning permission, with conditions.

They include staining the external walls in a dark colour and the building should be for the sole use as a casre home for the Fortune Centre.

Mrs Dixon-Clegg said the building would be put up "once the trustees have given their final consideration and approval".

"We hope to have it up and running early in '08. It depends on the weather and the usual practicalities."