AN EXPANSION of Elphinstone has been rubber-stamped almost 18 months after councillors gave it the go-ahead.

Eighty new homes to the west of the village were approved by members of the local authority’s planning committee in December 2019.

Now, the plans have been signed off by the planning department, with various technicalities ironed out.

The scheme, which will be built between Tranent Road and the village’s football pitch, will see 76 new houses built alongside four flats.

Highland Residential Developments Ltd’s proposals were unanimously approved by the planning committee a week before Christmas in 2019.

At that time, Labour councillors Fiona O’Donnell and John McMillan were among those backing the plans.

Twenty affordable homes will be built on the site, with East Lothian Council receiving £848,240 towards the provision of additional accommodation at the village’s primary school and Tranent’s Ross High School.

A further £24,548 will go towards the refurbishment of the playing field’s changing pavilion, with more than a dozen parking spaces created within the development for people using the pitch, and nearly £44,000 will go towards play equipment in the park.

The development will be accessed off the B6414, which passed through the heart of the village.

All of the properties are two-storeys, with the housing split into 23 detached, 18 semi-detached and 35 terraced homes.

The majority of the properties – 27 – will contain three bedrooms, with 26 containing two bedrooms and 23 containing four bedrooms.

Each of the four flats will include two bedrooms.

The development did not win favour with all residents though, with 12 objections to the proposals.

Concerns included the number of houses was “completely out of character with the village setting” while other fears included that the expansion of Tranent and Elphinstone was “destroying the character of these settlements”.