Residents of an elderly community have objected to plans to turn a nearby house into a holiday let. . . claiming guests could cause "distress" to the seriously ill.

An application from Elizabeth Doig to turn her home on Langriggs, Haddington, into a short-term holiday rental has been put on hold after councillors heard concerns from the people living behind it in the Carlyle Court complex.

And fellow Langriggs residents also had concerns, highlighting recent anti-social behaviour in the street which saw East Lothian Provost John McMillan allegedly assaulted by youths earlier this year.

A meeting of East Lothian Council’s licensing sub-committee heard there had been nine objections to the application for a short-term let licence for the house, which is within a gated yard shared with neighbours.

Ms Doig argued that residents of Carlyle Court, which is behind her back garden, would not be impacted by her plans to have up to eight guests in the four-bedroom house.

However Patricia Oliver, who lives on the court and represented its residents during the meeting, said this was not the case.

And she pointed out that many of the residents' bedrooms were at the back of the court, a "stone’s throw" from Ms Doig’s home.

She told the meeting: “Carlyle Court was originally built with the elderly in mind and current residents range from the age of 70 to their late 90s.

“Some relatives are quite frail and others have long-term medical illnesses. Five of my neighbours have passed away following a period of end-of-life care in their own homes and during this time we were mindful of the need for quiet.

“Any noise from weekend guests having barbecues etc has the potential to cause distress at such times.”

The committee also heard from one of Ms Doig’s neighbours who shares the gated yard with her and said the move would be "life-changing" for their family, leaving them unable to let the children play safely outdoors.

Darren Woodhead added that the street had been at the centre of anti-social behaviour issues, pointing to the incident involving Councillor McMillan who was allegedly assaulted after confronting a group of rowdy youths gathered in the street in February this year.

He said: “Transient visitors can never be fully vetted.”

Councillor Colin McGinn, committee chairperson, expressed concern that he was not adequately aware of the surroundings of the house and the site and moved that a site visit be arranged for councillors before they made a decision on the licence.

The motion was unanimously backed by the committee and the application will be brought back to a future meeting.