500 houses for North Berwick
Kirsty Gibbins • Published 31 Mar 2011 09:30
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THE deputy leader of East Lothian Council has warned that the local authority must "tread carefully" on a major planned expansion of North Berwick, which will see 500 new houses erected on the south-western outskirts of the award-winning coastal town.
A draft masterplan for the development, on approximately 46 hectares of land at Mains Farm and Gilsland which lie immediately to the south and south-west of the town, was approved by East Lothian Council's cabinet on Tuesday.
The considerable extension to North Berwick's boundary is the latest major development proposal by the local authority to cope with the predicted surge in the county's population, expected to rise by more than one third over the next 20 years.
Other significant housing projects include 750 new homes at Letham Mains on the edge of Haddington and a new town of 1,600 houses at Blindwells, between Tranent and Prestonpans.
The vision statement of the Mains Farm/Gilsland draft development framework states that the expansion will create "a special place, purpose designed in a co-ordinated way that contributes positively to North Berwick's rich architectural tradition by designing a 21st-century expansion for the town that fully respects and integrates with its context".
Mains Farm, where 400 houses are proposed, is the larger of the two sites and is located at the southern boundary of the town adjacent to the existing Law Primary and North Berwick High Schools, near to local landmark the Law. One hundred houses are proposed for Gilsland.
Of the 500 dwellings, 125 will be for affordable housing and will be a variety of types such as flatted, terraced, mews, semi-detached and detached properties.
Other proposed features of the development include:
A new link road through the Mains Farm site to connect Haddington Road with Grange Road;
A new, small local centre offering non-residential land uses such as commercial, small-scale shopping and office space - within the Mains Farm site;
New outdoor leisure facilities including new parkland, equipped play spaces, a community sports pitch and related changing accommodation.
Following the publication of the Local Plan 2008, it was expected that expansion of the town's primary and secondary schools would be required to cope with the population increase resulting from the additional housing.
However, councillors heard on Tuesday that: "Any and all expansion of Law Primary School and North Berwick High School required as a result of the amount, phasing and timing of all residential development currently anticipated within their catchment areas can take place within existing school campuses."
North Berwick Coastal councillors Stuart MacKinnon and Neil Rankin both expressed concern at the decision to withdraw proposed expansion of the town's schools from the framework.
Mr MacKinnon, deputy leader of the council, said: "Here is a very considerable development within the North Berwick area, which we all know is a nice place to stay in. And we also have an exceptional level of attainment within education at the high school.
"We're talking about bringing in 500 houses, many of which will be family homes and I think the (high) school really has the potential to expand quite dramatically.
"We also need to make sure we're catering for the levels of traffic that use North Berwick. That is a great concern. We have set some monies aside to consider the 'park and ride' situation and that's something we really need to pursue."
He added: "We need to tread carefully with this one to make sure we're doing it right."
Following the approval of the draft framework, a six-week consultation exercise will be carried out to gather views from various public bodies. The public will also be able to see copies at a number of public facilities, including libraries. Comments, responses and any changes will be reported to cabinet at the end of the consultation.
Once a final development framework is approved, the council will be able to accept planning applications from any developers. The completion of the development is likely to take a number of years.
Transition North Berwick recently conducted a survey asking residents' views on life in the town, which has an estimated population of about 6,500.
John Maslen, TNB chair, told the Courier that about 400 out of roughly 700 respondents had been against expansion of the town.
Have your say. Post a comment on this article.
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babayaga
Unregistered User
Mar 31, 16:44
Report commentNOOOO! i don;'t see why we need to have an expansion of such large scale in north berwick. i think that this builiding project would ruin the town.
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babayaga100
Unregistered User
Mar 31, 16:52
Report comment -
v.j.j.singh
Unregistered User
Apr 1, 21:08
Report commentOther than the retired and rich who will be able to afford to live in NB when petrol is £10 a gallon.
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Austiabz
Unregistered User
Apr 7, 09:14
Report commentTread lightly! Like they did over Letham Mains? Jackboots more like.
Recommend? Yes 1
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