A TRADITIONAL police lantern outside a station in East Lothian will be recreated – just a few hundred feet from its original home.

Haddington Police Station, on Court Street, is re-locating to the town’s former courthouse in the next three years in a move which will see £1.4million of renovation work carried out.

And one of the first parts of the project to be given planning approval is the recreation of the iron lantern and archway outside the current station to its new front door.

The traditional blue lantern with the distinctive police-style checkerboard markings will move a few buildings to the east to its new home, along with a new cast-iron framework designed to replicate the original work.

The move, which required listed building consent for the Category B listed former court house, replaces original plans for a modern hanging ‘box’ sign which were withdrawn by Police Scotland amid concern it would not suit the historic character of the building.

The decision to copy the original signage and archway from the police station  has been given the go-ahead by East Lothian Council planners, who said it “would not appear as a harmfully prominent, intrusive or incongruous feature.”

East Lothian Provost John McMillan welcomed the decision which he said would keep continuity with the police station.

He said: “The council has worked with the police service agents to ensure that the lantern at the entrance of the existing police building is transferred to the new entrance on Court Street, to give continuity in the identification of the police station when it moves to its new location by retaining this familiar feature.

“I think it enhances the story of the old palace that was once there [where the court building now is] and reminds us of our traditions.”

Haddington Police Station opened in 1954 in Weston House, a Georgian house, on Court Street with the traditional lantern and ironwork placed outside.

In a quirk of fate, before moving to Weston House the local police superintendent had an office in the old county buildings where the courthouse is – and his officers were based in a shed at the back of the building.

East Lothian Council took ownership of the former court after it closed its doors in 2015 as hearings moved to Edinburgh.

Plans to move the police into the building alongside council services, to create a modern hub which will see closer collaboration between agencies and council services, are under way, with police expected to move in in 2022.

The former courthouse was built in 1833 and designed by architect William Burns.