Council orders builder to fix water issues on new Bellway Homes housing site in East Lothian after flood

A housebuilder has been ordered to fix water issues on its site before a single new house is built after neighbouring gardens were flooded during recent heavy rain.

Bellway Homes had applied for planning permission to build 90 new homes on part of land set aside in East Lothian Council’s Local Development plan for housing.

However, at a meeting of the council’s planning committee on Tuesday concerns were raised over the flooding which occurred last month when rainstorms swept the country.

Local councillor Colin McGinn questioned the amount of flooding which had hit the village of Elphinstone, where the houses are due to be built, in recent weeks.

And Ian Chalmers from the council’s flood and structure service said heavy rain had caused an overspill from a pond on the site which “flooded into gardens in parts of Tranent Road”.

A spokesperson for Bellway Homes told the committee the company had units on the site within two hours of the incident and the situation was brought under control.

The plans for the western edge of Elphinstone include 86 new houses, four flats and a car park for the local sports pitch.

Councillor Lee-Anne Menzies, local ward member for the community, urged the committee members to reject the plans pointing out that Elphinstone itself was made up of just 270 homes in total.

She said: “We are not building a community here nor are we adding things to the community.

“What we are building is a satellite area to house Edinburgh workers.”

However planning convenor councillor Norman Hampshire reminded the committee the land was included in the council’s own Local Development Plan for housing.

He did, however, back concerns about the recent flooding and asked for a condition to be attached to the application to say no houses would be built until the water issues had been fixed to Scottish Water’s satisfaction.

The committee unanimously backed the recommendations to approve the plans with the flooding condition and additional conditions about tackling speed on the road beside the estate.