PLANS lodged more than three years ago for 27 flats beside a busy Haddington junction have been temporarily shelved.

Haddington Developments Ltd lodged proposals for the former Ideal Garage site, on the town’s Victoria Bridge, in March 2012.

The last documents were submitted in October of that year but the plans have now been withdrawn.

Gordon Beaton, of Susan Stephen Architects Ltd, which was also involved in the proposals, explained the intention was still to see development take place.

He told the Courier that local authorities were under pressure to determine planning applications within a certain timeframe.

Negotiations were ongoing between the developer and “a potential end user”, with the proposals being put on hold for the time being.

However, he expected another application for the site to be submitted “before too long”.

The now-withdrawn scheme would have seen the flats built over two blocks of three and four storeys, with the provision of ground-floor retail space on the corner of Hardgate and Victoria Bridge.

Twenty of the flats would have had two-bedrooms, with the remaining seven as one-bedroom properties.

According to the design and access statement, which was submitted in March 2012: “Many meetings were held with East Lothian Council to develop a robust strategy and concept for the site. Central to these discussions was the desire to achieve a development massing model which compliments the site and respects the surrounding structures and the conservation area, building on the existing traditional forms and patterns of Haddington.

“From an early stage it was proposed to provide retail on the ground floor to ensure an active street frontage, with flats located above. This is typical of central Haddington, where the ground-floor retail units stimulate the street scene.

“Another typical feature of the town centre are buildings which create a strong and clearly defined street edge, which is at the core of this design.” The site would have been accessed from Victoria Bridge, with 28 parking spaces shown in one of the drawings as an internal courtyard.

The town’s community council objected to the plans when they were lodged.

Paul Darling, from the group, stressed they were not against development on the site but added any building had to be in keeping with the area.

He said: “It would be staring you right in the face whatever they put in that place.” Before it became a garage, the site was destroyed on March 3, 1941, when it was hit by a bomb dropped from a German plane returning from the blitz of Clydebank.