A historian who lectures on the visual culture of the Second World War  has joined the campaign to stop the Museum of Flight cutting down 299 trees to move planes into a proposed new £15million centre.

The National Museums of Scotland has appealed to Scottish Ministers to allow it to push ahead with plans for a new hangar and centre next to its current East Lothian site at East Fortune.

The £15million centre was refused planning permission by East Lothian Council because it involved chopping down part of an ancient woodland so  historic planes could be moved from the old museum site into the new hangar.

And it sparked a huge protest from campaigners with over 5,000 signatures gatherd on an online petitions opposing the plans.

Now opponents have lodged their objections with the Scottish Reporter who is investigating the appeal.

Among them is the historian, a lecturer at Northumbria University, who does not want to be identified and lives near the site, who tells the Reporter she finds the proposals ‘bizarre’.

She said: “I am a senior lecturer in visual and material culture at Northumbria university, specialising in the visual culture of WWII and, as a historian, I strongly object to the suggestion that felling trees is necessary in this circumstance.

“I find the way this decision has been positioned publicly as choosing history or choosing nature quite bizarre. Quite frankly, plans should be adjusted to fit the site and in full respect for the local biodiversity and for the health and leisure of local residents.”

Other local residents have also lodged objections with one describing the plans as an “act of vandalism” and another urging Scottish Ministers to consider not only the environmental issues but

Belhaven resident Naomi Barne objected, sayings: “The aviation industry took off in the 20th century and is one of the worst polluters we have in terms of constant carbon emissions into the environment.

“The museum should be looking to face that responsibility head on rather than make yet another swipe at our precarious natural world.”

Helen Carlyle, of North Berwick said: “I believe that natural heritage is no less important than aviation history.

“In turning down NMS's original application, East Lothian Council reflected the anger of the local community and its desire to protect its biodiversity."

And Ruth Hunter Pepper, from Sustaining North Berwick, described the proposal as “ill-judged and inappropriate”.

The Fineron family, from East Linton, also urged the Reporter to reject the appeal, asking: “Why do humans prioritise our destruction of the landscape and other creatures that live in it to celebrate our human constructions?”

While North Berwick resident Ian Duff accused the Museum of Flight of having “wilfully allowed key items to deteriorate over many years".

The appeal to the Reporter is ongoing and a site visit is expected to be carried out.

The National Museums of Scotland has been invited to respond to the representation lodged by those against their plans.

In its appeal statement to Scottish Ministers, it defends the need to fell the trees and says saplings will be planted to replace the lost woodland.

It said:  “ Tree removal is required to allow the decanting of large fixed-wing aircraft to the new building from their current locations.

“Two of the aircraft (the Viscount, BAC 1-11 and Comet) are currently displayed outdoors and cannot be accommodated within any of the existing hangers.

“NMF’s conservation experts have confirmed that the structural fragility of these aircraft requires that they are moved only a short distance.

“Further, that it is not possible to decant the aircraft to the new building by other means such as craning the aircraft over the trees."

Museum bosses have said that planes currently sited outdoors at the current museum are deteriorating and at risk of being lost.