AN OLYMPIC gold medal-winning show jumper is aiming to overcome a planning hurdle amid flooding concerns.

Peebles-born Scott Brash MBE landed gold as part of the GB Team at the 2012 Summer Olympics at Greenwich Park in London.

And three years later he became the first rider to win show jumping’s Rolex Grand Slam, scooping £735,000 in the process.

He regularly competes on the Longines Global Champion Tour and the equestrian facilities that support his activities are based at a farm in West Sussex and at Castlehill Farm in Peebles, a venue which accommodates retired elite horses now used for breeding purposes.

Mr Brash has now submitted a planning application to Scottish Borders Council to erect a new equestrian building at Castlehill Farm, designed to be a feeding station for the horses there.

A supporting statement with the application, submitted by Mr Brash’s agent, Edinburgh-based Derek Scott Planning, says: “It is to be used as a feeding station for the horses and is to be sited south of the existing feeding shelter on the eastern side of the Manor Water.

“The need for the shed has arisen as a result of the increased number of horses on the farm from horse breeding activities, coupled with wetter weather conditions which is impacting on the welfare and well-being of the horses kept at the farm.

“We are conscious that the proposed equestrian building lies within a 1:200 flood plain of the Manor Water and therefore at theoretical risk of flooding, our client advises that the area has never been exposed to a flooding event during his ownership and residency of the farm.

“That, combined with the fact that the building has permanent opening both to the north and south, which would allow, in a flooding event, for such waters to run through it, reduces potential impacts within acceptable parameters.”