CONTROVERSIAL plans to build a new £15million visitor centre at the National Museum of Flight have been given support by Historic Environment Scotland.

The public body which is tasked with protecting Scotland’s heritage has backed the planned centre, which was refused planning permission by East Lothian Council over plans to cut down 299 trees of an ancient woodland.

National Museums of Scotland has appealed to Scottish Ministers to overturn the local authority’s decision, which came after thousands of people signed an online petition demanding the trees be saved and just months after councillors declared a ‘climate emergency’.

Councillors ruled the museum’s plans to chop down 299 trees, to clear a path so it could move its historic collection of planes from its current outdoor site at East Fortune into a newly built hangar, breached their Climate Change Strategy and threw out the plans at a meeting in February.

Protestors told councillors that alternative sites for the new centre, which would avoid destroying the tree belt, had not been given proper consideration.

They pointed to an area to the west of the original site, and proposed new land on the neighbouring Gilmerton Estate as a better location.

Now Historic Environment Scotland (HES), which has responsibility for the airfield which the original museum is built on as a scheduled monument, "likely consider objecting” to the centre being placed on the western site.

In a statement lodged with the appeal, HES said it had been in discussions with museum bosses for nearly 15 years over the new visitor centre.

Despite making no comment on the plans when they came before East Lothian Council in February for a decision, HES said it supported the visitor centre proposals.

And it said in 2006: “One alternative option on the west side of the scheduled monument was noted as being potentially problematic.

"If presented with a similar options appraisal today, we would likely provide similar advice, that being that the construction of a large visitor facility near the end of one of the runways would likely impact on key views along that runway.

“We would consider views along and from the runway of an airfield to be a key characteristic of the cultural significance of the site, and proposals that impacted on these views would likely result in a negative impact.”

HES said that view had not changed and remained advice it would give applicants, and it said of the impact of 299 trees being destroyed and the centre built to the south of the scheduled monument: “We would not consider the trees of Sunnyside Strip to be directly related to the cultural significance of the scheduled monument – they are visible, but do not relate to our understanding of the monument as a wartime airfield.”

East Lothian Council submitted a response to the appeal which said it would be willing to consider a new site to the west of the airfield.

It said: “ East Lothian Council is not opposed to the proposal of a new hangar; however, East Lothian Council is opposed to the proposed location.

“If the applicant was able to provide an alternative location for the hangar which did not involve the felling of such a substantial number of trees (almost two thirds of the total trees) then East Lothian Council’s planning committee indicated they would be likely to consider the application more favourably”

Museum bosses have said that the new visitor centre will generate £7.3million and support 392 jobs in East Lothian – an increase on 2016/17 when it generated £6.5million and supported 344 jobs.

More than 200 objections to the appeal have been lodged with the Scottish Reporter.