MUSSELBURGH and Inveresk Community Council has called for immediate action to protect residents’ homes from future flooding and to reduce traffic pollution in the town.

Responding to East Lothian Council’s Main Issues Report consultation, the community council said that concern about the future quality of life for people living in East Lothian’s biggest town was high, as it faced more houses and heavier volumes of traffic.

They said there was no doubt that one of the main issues for residents was traffic management, adding: “It is no longer acceptable for people to go outdoors and do their daily activities and be subjected to traffic fumes at such high levels.” The community council said it strongly objected to a proposal to site nearly 5,000 new properties in the surrounding area, pointing to the high level of traffic already passing through it and the already unacceptable levels of air pollution, which it said had to be dealt with before any future development was considered.

They also said there was no justification for approving the proposed 1,000 development at Goshen Farm, east of Musselburgh, saying: “We see no cause whatsoever for allowing another major development east of the town which could potentially undermine the Wallyford development.

“Goshen should be dropped from any plan at this stage and certainly no development should be contemplated at Howe Mire on the Pinkie battlefield site.” The community council warned the local authority that rushing into developments and failing to protect the town would be disastrous for it in the years to come.

They said: “Musselburgh faces many challenges and it is so important that it has a future. These matters should clearly not be rushed into and future proposed developments would saturate the town and its adjacent villages to a level that Musselburgh would no longer be a welcoming place to bring up your children.

“History will judge us by the decisions that we make in the coming years.”