CONCERN over new housing being added to a sprawling estate on the west of Haddington was raised after a neighbour claimed the homes would be too close to their garden.

Plans for 49 new houses and four flats in a vacant piece of land on the Letham Mains estate, which has seen hundreds of new homes created on the outskirts of the town are due to go before East Lothian Council's planning committee next week.

But while council officers are recommending approval of the plans by Mactaggart and Mickel Homes, they said concerns were raised by a resident in a neighbouring street about  lack of space between the houses.

And they said one owner of a property backing onto the land said they had been told a lane would be built to separate the new housing when they bought their property.

However, a report by officers said no lane was ever included in the masterplan for the site, which originally earmarked the application site for seven fewer homes than proposed.

READ MORE: More than 40 homes given go ahead at Letham Mains site

They said: “During the purchase process the representor claims that they were advised that there would be a lane between the rear garden of their house and the proposed new residential development to the west of them.

“The docketed drawings relating to the (previous) planning permission do not show the intention to form a lane or path to the east of the approved houses within this part of the site.”

Claims by the resident that one of the new houses would be built just two metres from the boundary of its neighbours’ rear garden, officers said it was at least three metres away.

East Lothian Council’s Local Development Plan 2018 set aside a large area of land at Letham Mains, to the east of Haddington for about 800 new homes.

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Hundreds have already been built with a number of developers taking on parcels of the site and a new primary school opening for families moving into the estate.

The latest application is for a site to the south of Davids Way, which runs from the north of the Letham Mains development at the town’s West Road, south to Pencaitland Road.

Recommending councillors approve the application, officers said it fits in with the Local Development Plan and there are “no material considerations which outweigh the proposals accordance with the Development Plan”.

The committee meets next Tuesday (August 22) as the council returns from its summer recess.