A ROUND of applause greeted plans to transform a former hotel at the heart of Haddington into flats, a cafe and possibly an art gallery.

Proposals to revamp the George Hotel were submitted to East Lothian Council in March.

Those plans – which include 15 flats, a retail unit and a cafe – were made public in May, with Keith Macdonald, of Somner Macdonald Architects, and Iain Wilkie, of Wilkie Construction, attending Haddington’s community council meeting last month.

And they received a warm welcome from community councillors, who were keen to see the building, on the town’s High Street, fulfil its potential.

Jan Wilson, community council chairwoman, said: “It’s an exciting project.

“We’ve been worrying about the George Hotel and it deteriorating so much in recent years.

“It’s been empty and it is good to see something is being done.” Pat Lemmon, another community councillor, was similarly pleased to hear progress was being made.

She said: “We are incredibly excited by this.

“It’s long been an eyesore and everybody said it is the heart of the town.

“Retaining the outside is wonderful – at long last somebody is finding a use for it.” The plans for the building, which were submitted by MNH (Haddington) Ltd, are currently being mulled over by the local authority’s planning department. Once officials are satisfied, the proposals could then go before the local authority’s planning committee, who would determine if the scheme goes ahead.

Currently, the developers plan to work on the commercial units first before then turning their attention to the flats.

Mr Macdonald noted one issue that had been raised previously was whether there was adequate parking for the flats and customers at the cafe or art gallery.

According to the supporting statement, which was submitted with plans for the building, which dates back to the 16th century: “The existing courtyard for the hotel can accommodate six car parking spaces, which falls short of the standard of parking normally applied to residential development.

“However, the current parking provision currently also falls short of the standard that would normally be applied to the existing combination of scale and uses, being bar, function suite, hotel bedrooms, and restaurant.

“In association with this proposal therefore, agreement of the council is sought to relax the standard normally applied, on the principle that there would be a deemed net decrease in parking needs as a result of the proposed development.” The flats would mostly be made up of single-bedroom accommodation, with Mr Macdonald admitting that because the building was listed there was a limit as to what work could be carried out.