MUSSELBURGH Racecourse “cannot keep on” submitting retrospective planning applications, says the town’s community council.

Musselburgh and Inveresk Community Council received a complaint from a resident that a bend on the course was replaced with artificial turf before the work had been approved by East Lothian Council.

And it was claimed that five of the last nine planning applications put before the local authority by the racecourse had only been submitted after work, or part of the work, had already been carried out.

Community council chairwoman Irene Tait said she understood the concerns of the resident about repeated retrospective planning applications.

She said: “This resident has very real concerns that allowing the racecourse to apply for planning permission after the fact could allow an all-weather track to be installed. We have to make it very clear to the racecourse and the council they cannot keep putting in retrospective planning applications.

“They cannot just go ahead and do it. We have to keep our eye on the ball where the racecourse is involved.” Present at the community council meeting last week was Musselburgh West councillor John McNeil, who is a member of the Musselburgh Joint Racing Committee, which runs the course on behalf of East Lothian Council.

He insisted there were no plans for an all-weather track at the course, but admitted the committee “should know better” than to carry out work without approval.

Mr McNeil said: “There are no plans that I know about to bring in an all-weather racecourse. The reason for the sand being brought in at the bend at the winning post was for health and safety reasons. There are no plans to put anything further forward without full planning permission.” Fellow Musselburgh councillor Stuart Currie criticised racecourse bosses for repeatedly going ahead with work before having proper approval.

He said: “That’s five times they have done this and applied for permission retrospectively. This is Common Good land. No one else would get away with it.” The community council agreed to send a letter to the joint racing committee and East Lothian Council to insist that no further retrospective planning applications are allowed.

Racecourse general manager Bill Farnsworth has previously told the Courier that the section of artificial turf laid at the finishing post bend was not a “first step” towards establishing a full all-weather track, a hugely controversial proposal turned down in 2007.

Meanwhile, the racecourse has applied to East Lothian Council for permission to erect a six-metre-wide marquee at ‘Entrance Three’. It would have a maximum height of just under 3.5 metres.