IMPROVEMENTS to an increasingly busy junction on the A1 are unlikely to happen until housing in the area is complete.

Calls have repeatedly been made for changes to the layout of the Belhaven junction, between the Thistly Cross and Spott roundabouts.

Currently, drivers looking to join the A1 heading east may have to come to a halt before pulling out onto the 70mph dual carriageway.

Dunbar Community Council and Hallhill Tenants and Residents Association have both called for Transport Scotland to have a rethink.

Jacquie Bell, secretary of the town’s community council, said that more and more people were using the junction as Dunbar grew, with more housing planned for a site called Hallhill North.

She said: “This has been ongoing since the A1 was dualled, which must be about 20 years ago, along with my nag about the cement works junction.

“This one has come under more pressure since the new housing began and with Hallhill North it will bring even more pressure.”

A section of Spott Road, under the bridge, was closed while work was carried out, with the official diversion encouraging drivers to come off the A1 at Thistly Cross Roundabout before heading through West Barns and Belhaven and into Dunbar.

However, Mrs Bell said a number of motorists used the Belhaven junction.

Hallhill Tenants and Residents Association has written to both Iain Gray MSP and Dunbar and East Linton ward member Councillor Paul McLennan to push for improvements to the junction.

An extended sliproad onto the busy route is one possibility, as is the potential for more signs to highlight merging traffic and the possibility of reducing the speed limit to 50mph.

Mr Gray said: “I wrote to Transport Scotland to highlight safety concerns about Belhaven junction and ask what is being done to address them.

“The reply appeared to suggest that no further action will be considered until the next phases of development at Hallhill have been completed.

“The further extensive development planned at Hallhill over the next few years will undoubtedly lead to a greater volume of traffic at the junction.”

A planning application for nearly 250 new homes on land at Hallhill North was submitted to East Lothian Council in February last year.

Those proposals, from Taylor Wimpey East Scotland and Hallhill Developments Ltd, are yet to be decided.

The development would be built to the west of the Lochend campus of Dunbar Primary School and include 202 houses and 40 flats.

A spokesman for Transport Scotland confirmed that BEAR Scotland would look at the speed limit and “provision of warning signage” in the location in the next financial year.

He said: “The additional traffic predicted to use the Belhaven junction as a result of the proposed housing development at Hallhill remains below the threshold where an alteration to the junction layout is required by trunk road design standards.

“We will assess any further developments affecting the Belhaven junction when these come forward for consultation.”