FOUR new homes in Dirleton have been approved, despite concerns from two community groups.

East Lothian Housing Association (ELHA) was given the go-ahead to demolish two disused workshops off Harpenside Crescent, near Station Road, and build four flats in their place.

However, the approval came despite Gullane Area Community Council, which covers the village, and Dirleton Village Association (DVA) having concerns about the scheme.

The community council backed the views of DVA, which published a statement on its website.

It read: “While the DVA committee is supportive of the provision of more affordable housing in the village, it considers that this proposal is insensitive and inconsistent with the provisions of the Local Development Plan and the Dirleton Conservation Area character statement.

“They have therefore objected to both applications.

“The two new buildings are to be located close to the single-storey cottages in the immediate area, which predominantly have white harling walls and terracotta pantile roofs characteristic of this part of the village.

“The proposed new buildings are to be suburban in their nature, two storeys in height, with high roofs, and the applicants are equating them to similar buildings on the nearby larger housing development for which planning permission was granted last year on appeal but on which construction has not yet started.”

In total, four letters of objection were lodged against the planning application.

Concerns included a feeling that the existing workshop buildings should be retained and that it would be “far more appropriate” to convert the existing buildings to housing or to replace them with “a small group of low-rise cottage buildings” comparable with nearby properties.

Under ELHA’s plans, two buildings will sit next to one another, with each building home to two cottage apartments.

In a statement included within ELHA’s planning application, it noted that the two workshops had been sitting unused for “a number of years”.

It said: “ELHA and their consultant team recognise the sensitivity of the site within the context of the village and the importance of integrating the new site with the approved proposals.

“We see the site as an extension of the wider approved masterplan and an opportunity to enhance the approach into the village from Station Road by creating a feature pocket park that will complement the approved landscape designs of the wider development.

“The proposals will provide four affordable cottage apartments that will sit alongside the similar cottage apartments of the wider development proposals.”

Each of the four properties will have two bedrooms, a bathroom, living room and kitchen.

The proposed demolition of the existing workshops was granted through a separate application.

The site is to the north of an already-approved 36-home development at Castlemains.