FEARS have been raised that wildlife, including deer, could suffer if a potential development on the edge of Dunbar gets the go-ahead.

East Lothian Council is looking at various sites across the county after the Scottish Government set a target of 10,050 new county homes by 2024.

The local authority’s preferred development strategy would see the majority of new homes built in the west of the county.

But a number of potential sites between Dunbar and the A1 have also been identified in the Main Issues Report (MIR), which is currently subject to consultation.

One such site that concerned Isobel Knox, of Dunbar Community Woodland Group, was Eweford Farm.

The 81-hectare site between Thistly Cross roundabout and Beveridge Row is less than a mile from Lochend Woods.

According to the MIR document, it could become home to “approximately 1,000 homes and other mixed land uses”.

Ms Knox aired her concerns at a recent open meeting in Dunbar, which discussed how the Scottish Government’s target could impact upon not just Dunbar but neighbouring villages.

She said: “You just need to look at a map to see the woodland will be surrounded on all sides by housing, railways or roads.” The woodland is home to a variety of birds, foxes and also deer.

Its surroundings first started to alter following the construction of more than 500 houses at Hallhill.

And Ms Knox feared that the creation of more new homes would make the situation worse.

She said: “The woods are becoming isolated. They are going to become more surrounded and there was to be a strip for the migration route of the deer, which is going to be affected; there is going to be an impact.” Lochend Woods was previously home to badgers, which, according to Ms Knox, had left since the increase in development. And she was worried a similar fate would meet the deer.

“The deer are quite shy creatures and I worry about them if they are driven out onto the A1.” Eweford Farm is described in the MIR as an “alternative site”, with four others in the town earmarked as “preferred” sites for housing.

Three of the four preferred sites are located to the west of the town, including at Beveridge Row.

A planning application for development at Beveridge Row was submitted in 2012 to East Lothian Council by Hallam Land Management Ltd. That was never determined and instead the decision was left to a Scottish Government-appointed Reporter, who gave the scheme the green light.

Permission for the site was finally granted last May after a contribution to education provision at West Barns Primary School and Dunbar Grammar School was made, with about 90 houses to be built.

Meanwhile, two of the other preferred sites are located to the west of Dunbar Primary School’s Lochend campus.

The largest is to the immediate south of the railway line and could be home to 250 new houses.

The smaller site is just off the A1 and would see 50 houses being built.

The final site would see an extension off Bowmont Terrace and could also see 250 houses being built.