THE next stage of ambitious plans for Whitekirk Golf and Country Club could go before planners in the New Year.

Proposals for 42 houses and 21 holiday lodges will be unveiled to the public on Wednesday afternoon.

That comes more than a year after plans for a 100-bedroom hotel on the site were given the green light by East Lothian Council.

The public exhibition, between noon and 8pm at the golf and country club, will allow members of the public to find out more about the scheme.

In a letter to Dunpender Community Council, the developers explained: “Whitekirk Golf and Country Club secured outline planning permission for the erection of a hotel and enabling houses.

“Work continues with the hotel, which has taken longer than expected due to the economic down turn.

“Consequently the council have advised that a revised application is required to extend the period in which full details of the enabling houses and the lodges can be lodged and subsequently constructed.” The letter adds: “For the avoidance of doubt the sole purpose of the application is to allow more time for the details of the proposed houses and lodges to be lodged, and to allow more time for their construction.

“The house and lodge details remain exactly the same as approved previously in outline, and it will also remain the case that the houses cannot be constructed until the hotel reaches ‘fit out stage’.” Judith Priest, chairwoman of Dunpender Community Council, felt the houses were “not sustainable”.

She said: “It is the wrong location for the houses. The houses would be better built where there is infrastructure, a school nearby and a bus service.

“There is a bus every two hours going from 8am to 6pm – it is the North Berwick bus, but it is really intermittent.” A planning application could be submitted for the lodges and houses in principle in January, following the consultation period.

The hotel, costing more than £14 million, was given the green light by the local authority in June last year.

However, it appears no closer to opening, despite, at that time, David Brodie, general manager at Whitekirk, telling the Courier: “It is a 60-week build so we plan to be open and operational by the end of that time.” About 120 people were expected to be employed as part of the construction of the hotel, while 50 to 60 jobs could be created once it is operational.