A CALL has been made for housebuilding in Dunbar to hit the pause button until the necessary infrastructure is in place.

Hundreds of houses are being built at sites across the town, with concerns regularly raised about the impact on services, such as schools and medical practice.

Ian Hamilton, from the town’s community council, echoed those fears and suggested work should grind to a halt until it was clear there was a plan in place.

He told the Courier: “Development is not going to stop but there should be a moratorium on new building until it is clear we have an infrastructure plan set out.”

Dunbar is home to the largest primary school in East Lothian, with more than 1,000 pupils at the end of last term.

Similarly, the secondary school has a school roll of more than 1,000.

Sites on both sides of the town have already been earmarked for more housing, including at Hallhill, Beveridge Row and off Bowmont Terrace, with development under way.

Pippa Swan, chairwoman of the community council, shared Mr Hamilton’s concerns.

She said: “During all the conversations about the council’s Main Issues Report and Local Development Plan (LDP), we asked time and again questions about transport, sewerage and water supply and so on.

“We were assured that all these things were properly taken into consideration before sites were allocated and the council were confident the systems could cope.”

She stressed that the issue regarding infrastructure matching pace with development was not one that was particular to Dunbar or even East Lothian.

Other concerns included whether medical centres could cope in terms of size and also staff levels.

A spokeswoman for East Lothian Council highlighted some of the various measures in place.

She said: “The LDP supports East Lothian Council’s ambitions for an even more prosperous, safe and sustainable county, in which all of our people and communities can flourish.

"The plan was fully consulted on and developed in conjunction with key partners such as the NHS and Scottish Water.

“It provides us with a sustainable strategy for jobs and homes, making the best use of existing infrastructure whilst allowing for new infrastructure.

“The developers’ contributions framework supports the plan as supplementary guidance and sets out estimated infrastructure expansion requirements and obligations on developers.

"For all major developments, planning committee will consider what developer contributions are needed to provide appropriate improvements to infrastructure.”