PLANS to build about 120 homes at Kingslaw, on Tranent's eastern edge, have been unveiled by developers Barratt Homes.

The company revealed its vision for the 12-acre site to Tranent and Elphinstone Community Council last week, claiming attempts by landowners The Co-Operative to market the land for commercial use had proved unsuccessful.

It said the land, which is earmarked by East Lothian Council for business use in its draft Local Development Plan, would be "mixed use".

Showing its plans to the community council, Barratt confirmed that only 1.5 acres of the site would be retained by owners The Co-Operative for commercial purposes, with the rest set aside for new homes.

The company said a corner of the land, as it is entered from the roundabout on Haddington Road, would be used for an estimated 15 commercial units that could be marketed as workshops or business units.

Spokesman Nicholas Wright said: “It is about one-and-a-half acres of the site and there are opportunities there, which are flexible. We estimate around 15 commercial units with about 10,000 square feet of commercial space but it is open to change.”

Mr Wright told the community council that The Co-Operative had attempted to attract interest to the site on a commercial level without success.

He said: “The site is about the size which would be used by a supermarket. However, with Asda and the new Aldi in place in Tranent, there is no appetite for another superstore in the town.”

He said a public exhibition of Barratt’s plans for the land in the town had attracted up to 50 people when it was held in the Loch Centre, adding that a number of people had been positive about the proposals and understood that the land could not remain empty.

He added that the company hoped to submit a planning application for the housing development to East Lothian Council by July, adding that houses could begin to appear on the site as soon as the summer of 2017.

A spokesperson for The Co-Operative, who had previously told the Courier it was not involved in the development and merely owned the land, declined to comment on the group's proposals for commercial units. He said: “Planning permission has yet to be obtained for the residential scheme, which is phase one of the development, and so it is too early to be specific about any subsequent phases.”