A SOLUTION to a long-running dispute regarding a path near Whitekirk has been put on hold.

Plans were revealed earlier this week to spend more than £100,000 on upgrading Becky’s Strip with a Toptrec surface, the first of its kind in the county.

The artificial surface was to cover 1.5 metres of the 3.5-4m wide path along the 1,430m (less than a mile) stretch.

East Lothian Council would have then paid almost £14,000 of the cost.

The potential surfacing of the path had caused division among users, with some firmly against the idea, while others welcomed it.

Ward councillor Jim Goodfellow had initially been pleased to see “a compromise decision” reached but contacted the Courier on Tuesday night to say the plans were now on hold.

He said: “The landowner is having second thoughts about allowing the development to go ahead.

“Therefore the council has put it on hold at the moment.

“I’m frustrated with this and disappointed but we cannot go ahead without the landowner’s permission.” The path was used by pilgrim travellers in the 15th century as the main road between Whitekirk and North Berwick.

Currently, it is described as “grass, undulating and rutted in small sections by agricultural vehicle use”.

That would have changed, although no start date for work was confirmed, with the material set to be a similar colour to that on the Haddington Tyne walkway.

It has found favour with horse riders in other local authority areas, including Midlothian.

In October, notices of planned works were posted on and nearby the access routes.

Iain Reid, the local authority’s school travel co-ordinator/cycle officer, said they had generated “a high degree of local interest”, including claims of a lack of consultation.

At that time, the council decided to “postpone” the work to allow “comprehensive local consultation”.

That saw organisations such as British Horse Society, Ramblers Scotland and Cycling Scotland asked for their opinions.

There was also a well-attended meeting at Whitekirk Golf Club, where people aired a number of different opinions.

The work would have seen Sustrans contribute £75,000, with Scottish National Heritage adding a further £15,000 and the council providing the remaining £13,875.

Mr Reid said: “Toptrec had been used at other locations in Scotland where walking/cycling/horse users shared the same surface and had met with approval.” The material, which comes in either brick red or black, is described as “a semi-bound surface made from concrete, blaes, and screened road planings”.

The route would form part of the North Sea Cycle Route (NSCR), which was officially opened in June 2001 and comprises a 6,000km route around the coasts of eight countries bordering the North Sea.

East Lothian Council contributed towards the cost of the route, which currently runs along the coast from Musselburgh to Longniddry before heading south-east to Haddington and then to Dunbar.

Mr Reid said it was “a long-standing aspiration” of the council to route the NSCR around the coast and to link with various towns and villages.

The new route would continue from Longniddry through Aberlady, Gullane and Dirleton to North Berwick.

Then, it would head south to Whitekirk and Tyninghame before rejoining the existing route at West Barns.