CONCERNS that a brightly coloured water bottle filling station would have “a negative effect” on a village’s “natural green area” have been dismissed by East Lothian Council.

Clean, fresh drinking water could soon be flowing in the centre of Gullane after Scottish Water’s bid for a Top Up Tap at the junction of Main Street and East Links Road was given the go-ahead.

However, the local authority’s approval came in the face of an objection from a member of the public. The planning officer noted that the person had four concerns, including that the blue-coloured water tap would “not be in keeping with a natural green area”.

The objection claimed: “There is already a significant amount of ‘furniture’ on this corner which is green or brown and manages to blend in, but this blue filling station would not.

“With double yellow lines on the section of the road beside the planned site, there will be no access for people stopping to fill up or a build-up of illegally parked traffic.

“The proposed location will be subject to very high levels of bird droppings and will be difficult to keep clean and hygienic.”

However, the local authority dismissed the issue surrounding bird droppings and hygiene as not planning considerations.

Furthermore, East Lothian Council’s roads department had no objection to the proposal and the water refill point was deemed not to “result in harm to amenity” of any nearby property.

There is already one tap of this style in East Lothian – on North Berwick’s Quality Street – and more than 70 throughout Scotland. A spokesperson for Scottish Water said they had “identified the perfect location” in Gullane for the filling station.

They added: “As part of their wider strategic campaign ‘Your Water, Your Life’, Scottish Water has committed to install outdoor water bottle filling stations across Scotland to encourage and promote the use of refillable bottles which customers can fill up with one of the country’s best-loved products – our nation’s tap water.

“The benefits of topping up with fresh, great-tasting tap water are clear: it’s good value and good for the pocket, it’s good for the environment and it’s good for health.”