CONTROVERSIAL plans to build 12 new homes on the site of a former rubbish tip off Monktonhall Terrace have been resurrected.

An application to renew planning permission granted to landowners Edmonds Development in 2010 has been submitted to East Lothian Council.

The area of land, which has historically been used as a landfill site and a curling pond, overlooks the course at Musselburgh Golf Club and sits south of the banks of the River Esk.

The original planning application was opposed by residents of Monktonhall Terrace and Musselburgh Conservation Society, with concerns about the loss of green belt to the town and increased traffic.

However, two Musselburgh councillors, John McNeil and John Caldwell, backed the plans, insisting that the site was a derelict eyesore which needed to be developed.

Mr McNeil said: “It’s an absolute mess.

“The kind of town houses being planned will enhance the area and the applicants have agreed to create a public access to the riverside, which gives us the opportunity to create a diverse environment.” The new houses would be built at the higher end of the 1.4-hectre site. Large sections of the land lie on a flood plain but a risk assessment report by flooding experts has said that the 12 properties themselves would be outwith the area considered in danger of flooding.

However, the report also warned that the access road proposed to allow new residents to reach their homes was in danger unless developers raised the road.

The report said: “The site access is predicted to lie within the flood plain and land along the road would need to be raised in order to provide safe access to the site.” It also suggested, given the site’s historic use as a landfill, that the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) might downgrade the land to brown belt status, which would allow the road to be raised.

The land was initially earmarked by East Lothian Council for residential development in 2000, but it was reclassified as green belt by the local authority eight years later.

Original plans for the new development included two sets of four-terraced houses, with three bedrooms each, and two sets of semi-detached homes, with four bedrooms each.

The ground floor of each of the homes would be a garage.

Initial plans suggested the slope the houses would be built on would mean from the Monktonhall Terrace side they would appear to be two storeys high, when in fact there would be four storeys to each home.

Mr Caldwell said the plans would enhance the area.

He said: “It’s an ugly site which has been derelict for a number of years.

“There are some traffic concerns but, overall, I believe it will enhance the area.”