PLANS for 240 new houses in Dunbar have been given the go-ahead, despite an admission none of them will be council houses.

In total, 60 of the houses planned for the development south of Bowmont Terrace are designated as “affordable housing” by the developers.

However, at a meeting of East Lothian Council’s planning committee last week, convenor Councillor Norman Hampshire said the council had no money to buy the houses once they were built.

Instead, he said, they would have to try and find a housing association to take them on and agree to rent them out.

Mr Hampshire told the committee the council had already committed to investing in houses on other sites in Dunbar.

He said: “We have no money to take on these houses in Dunbar. Other parts of the county require their share of the housing budget. We have already committed to invest in other development sites in the town.”

The admission was met with derision by opposition councillors, who claimed the council’s budget for new houses was underspent.

And they said there was little chance of the affordable houses being taken on by any other group as rental properties.

Councillor Stuart Currie, leader of the SNP opposition group, said: “If the council is not taking them on, it is unlikely anyone else is going to come forward so they will be sold at a discount.”

Local residents attended the planning committee meeting to object to the proposed development, saying some of the houses would be built on a hill overshadowing their own homes on the neighbouring Walker estate.

One man said he had lived there for 31 years and enjoyed the views which were now going to disappear.

They also criticised the affordable housing on the site, which was confirmed as being built at the back of the new development beside the railway line.

Resident Gavin Wilson said the developers were using the affordable houses as a “noise buffer for the more expensive homes”.

His view was repeated by Mr Currie, who said affordable houses “more often than not” appeared to be placed in areas which were less desirable.

And he criticised council officials being involved in deciding where the affordable housing should be built, given the local authority had no intention of taking them on themselves.

Independent councillor Dave Berry said he was disappointed by the decision not to take on the houses.

He said: “I am really disappointed in the convenor saying categorically they are not going to be council houses.”

Mr Berry also accused the council of being “delinquent” in its policy when it came to the roads which will be used by residents of the new houses and described the approach to council houses as “fallow”.

He added: “I am particularly objecting that affordable housing has been thrown out of the window by this council. They should be council houses.”

The planning committee voted by 13 to 3 to approve the new housing development.