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Bid to save East Lothian woodland rejected in favour of homes for the elderly

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Published date20 March 2024
AuthorMarie Sharp
Publication titleEdinburghLive (Scotland)
Plans for nearly 150 affordable homes on the former Herdmanflat Hospital site in Haddington had faced objections from local residents with hundreds signing a petition to save part of the site last year

However a meeting of East Lothian Council's petitions committee today heard that the original petition had been withdrawn after project developer Hub South East objected to some of its wording and a new one had only gathered 43 signatures in time to be submitted for consideration.

And it heard from Martin Henman, from Hub South East, that the number of objections lodged to the plans through its statutory process was even lower - at just 38.

Mr Henman told the committee: "That is deemed to be a very low number of objections for an application of the size of Herdmanflat."

Friends of Herdmanflat Hospital and Haddington Central Tenants and Residents Association joined forces to bring a petition to the council demanding a halt to the plans and more public consultation.

The petitioners argued many local residents did not know about the plans for the site until a planning application was lodged for the housing last year.

They said when people did become aware a petition was circulated which drew 300 signatures with a further 400 lodged online, however it was withdrawn after the developers objected.

The petition before the committee had far fewer signatures because of the speed in which it had to be pulled together, the committee heard.

Stuart Pe-Win, who represented the petition on behalf of local residents, said locals had been concerned by the apparent speed in which the plans had been put forward for public consultation and then lodged with the council.

He said that local community groups should have been consulted about what they wanted to see on the site before housing proposals were drawn up.

The petition before committee said: "We call on East Lothian Council and developers to halt their current plans for the redevelopment of the Herdmanflat site.

"We request that they restart the consultation phase and allow the local community to have a more significant influence on decisions regarding the...

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