DELAYS to a decision over controversial plans for a care village on the outskirts of North Berwick could frustrate the local community, a Scottish Government inquiry has been warned.

East Lothian Council has expressed disappointment over a decision by the Reporter overseeing the appeal to allow developers Goldcrest to make a late submission based on a study which has no Scottish links.

And in response to the decision, the local authority has told the Reporter it is unclear why the study’s findings were only submitted in April when it was published in December last year.

The council said: “The council is disappointed the appellant has made a late submission.

“Late submissions such as this lead to delays and can frustrate the local community.”

East Lothian Council refused planning permission for Goldcrest’s proposals for 152 residential and care units at Castleton Farm last August.

One town GP compared the proposals to a “ghetto” for older people, while a ground movement of local residents opposed to the plans swelled.

Councillors ruled that the plans were “grossly out of character” as they refused planning permission.

Goldcrest took their appeal to Scottish Ministers but, while the Reporter’s decision was due by April 12, a study by the King’s Fund on the Care and Support Specialised Housing (CASSH) Fund, which does not operate in Scotland, was submitted by the appellants and accepted into evidence.

The appellants, who have submitted 280 documents to the Reporter as part of the appeal, argued that while the UK Government CASSH fund was not operating in Scotland, the findings of its impact were relevant.

Among the findings reported were claims that extra-care housing models saved the NHS nearly £2,000 per resident over five years and reduced the number of days residents spent in hospital.

Accepting the CASSH report into evidence, the Reporter extended the deadline for submissions to the appeal to allow the council to respond.

In the local authority’s response, it said much of the study was irrelevant to the appeal decisions, stressing again that the plans breached its policy to protect the countryside around North Berwick, adding it “would cause significant harm to the landscape” and urging the Reporter to dismiss the appeal.

A response was also received on behalf of Save North Berwick Views campaign insisting the CASSH study did not convince them “that the benefits are of sufficient value or betterment that the development plan should be set aside in favour of the material consideration promoted by the appellant”.

Last August, when East Lothian Council’s planning committee unanimously rejected the plans for the care village, they heard evidence from objectors, including local GP Dr Clare Doldon, who feared that residents of the new care project would be cut off from local services.

She told a virtual meeting of the council’s planning committee “This proposal has the potential to ghettoise this community, as it is too far to walk into the town.”