A 1970s bungalow that leaks energy "like a sieve" is to be demolished and replaced with a new modern home, despite planners' concerns.

The house, at Trabroun Farm, to the north of the A1 between Haddington and Gladsmuir, was said to have been built as a ‘kit home’.

Owners Mr and Mrs Andrew Bain had applied to East Lothian Council for permission to knock it down and replace it with a new, larger home.

A meeting of the council’s local review body last week heard that planners had refused permission for the new house, which they felt was too big.

They said that the original bungalow was 5.3 metres high with a footprint of 195 square metres. The new home, they said, would be more than eight metres high with a second floor and ground floor footprint of 360 square metres.

They said it was not a "like-for-like" replacement which would have been allowed in the countryside location.

READ MORE: ‘Sieve-like’ home between Haddington and Gladsmuir to stay

However, agents on behalf of the Bains said that the original house was an early form of "kit housing" and had a number of serious structural and energy-efficiency issues.

In their original supporting statement for the new home, they said: “The existing bungalow leaks energy like a sieve.”

They pointed out that no neighbours had objected to the proposed new home.

At a meeting of the local review body, Councillor Colin Yorkston said that, while the increased footprint of the new home had raised some concern, it would be an improvement on what was currently onsite.

He told the meeting: “I think in terms of the actual quality of the building that is presently there and what is going to be put in there given it is a '70s house, this sort of kit thing is not something that is going to be missed by anyone walking past."

Fellow review body member Councillor Donna Collins said that the proposed new home had been designed to blend into the traditional buildings on the farmstead and would be an improvement to the site.

She said: “I actually find the newbuild a wee bit more complementary than what we have at the moment.”

The review body unanimously upheld the appeal and granted permission for the new house.