A MASSIVE roundabout has crippled a stables business which has taught North Yorkshire horse riders for more than 40 years, its owners claim.

Since the new roundabout was built at the junction of Wigginton Road and York's Outer Ring Road, 40 metres from the York Riding School, the number of horses on site has fallen from 80 to 27.

Owners Mario and Lorna Marchie estimate their income has dropped by about £8,000 per quarter, and use of the stables is virtually non-existent.

"We're basically just waiting to go bankrupt," said Mr Marchie.

And they claim City of York Council and the Highways Agency has ridden roughshod over them.

"We found out about the plans from the water board, who were doing work after permission had been given for the roundabout," said Mr Marchie.

"Nobody consulted us or even appeared to look at what was here. On the plans, we are shown by a question mark."

Problems created by the roundabout, which was enlarged to deal with Clifton Moor traffic, include:

Increased traffic which travels faster than it did on the previous smaller and tighter roundabout

A road sign placed in front of a crossing point which impedes vision of traffic to horse riders crossing from one of the school's fields, and the view of them for drivers

Excessive noise from work carried out on the roundabout for eight months, and from increased traffic

Removal of mature trees which served to reduce noise levels.

Mr Marchie said: "We used to have the horses stabled at the front of the property, but the noise really made them panic. On a few occasions it was so bad they broke out of the stables and one ran off down the road.

"We've moved them to the back, spending thousands on refurbishing stables there. We had to put up security fencing to keep them away from the road as a condition of getting our licence and we had to put in new drains to get rid of water that was coming in off the camber on the new road."

But, since the roundabout was finished, the school has lost major contracts, including ones with colleges, because of safety fears, both of horses panicking because of the noise of traffic and because of visitors turning off the road into the stables.

Mr Marchie said: "The field on the other side of the road is virtually redundant because we can't cross to it. We've spent a fortune on moving the horses away from the road, but the stables are empty. The business is losing thousands of pounds, and we're still having to pay about £120 a week to feed and house each horse."

The Local Government Ombudsman did investigate a complaint but discontinued it, saying the council had carried out its basic statutory requirements to consult, said Mrs Marchie.

The only recourse left to the couple is to take legal action, but the cost was out of her reach, she said.

Under the Land Compensation Act, the Marchies are eligible to apply for compensation from February - a year after the roundabout was completed.

But a spokeswoman for the Highways Agency, responsible for building the roundabout, said: "The act provides compensation for residents suffering from things like noise or devaluation of property, but it cannot take business loss into account."

A City of York Council spokesman said: "The authority did all that it could to ensure a wide-ranging consultation on the enlargement of the roundabout."