THE last of 70 new council homes to the south of the railway line in Dunbar will be complete by the end of the month.

Work on the final 11 council homes at the Hallhill development will be finished within a matter of weeks, with the houses then handed over to East Lothian Council.

The latest properties complete the council’s plan to build 70 new council homes, split over two sites, in the area.

Building work started in August 2015, with the first tenants moving in last summer.

The final 11 homes mark the completion of a development that followed a legal agreement between the local authority and Balfour Beatty to purchase 70 new flats and houses on two sites from Mansell Homes, part of the Balfour Beatty Group.

The homes, which were built by local firm Hart Builders, received £2.43 million in a Council House Building Grant from the Scottish Government.

Ward councillor Norman Hampshire, who is also the local authority’s spokesman for housing, said: “The completion of these final council homes is great news, as increasing and improving the supply of good quality housing in East Lothian is crucial to ensuring our communities thrive.”

The two sites form part of the larger Hallhill housing development, sandwiched between the East Coast Main Line and the A1.

It is one of the strategic housing sites identified in the East Lothian Local Development Plan 2008 and had planning consent to deliver 525 houses, a quarter of which are required to be affordable in line with the Council’s Affordable Housing Policy.

These affordable homes have been built on three separate sites. The council purchased two of the three sites to provide a total of 70 new council houses.

The other site was purchased by the Places for People group, which has provided 60 homes through a mixture of housing for social rent, through Castle Rock Edinvar Housing Association, with some available for mid-market rent and housing for shared equity.

The new council housing ranges in size from one-bedroom flats to larger family houses.