Woods threat hits house bid

A BID to create a new housing development on the site of a former Lothian gas works has been thrown out by council chiefs amid concerns about the loss of woodland.

Dalhousie Properties applied for planning permission to build the six homes on the site of the former Arniston Gas Works at Gorebridge, Midlothian. Its plans also called for a wind turbine as part of the project.

But the plans were refused by Midlothian Council, which feared woodland inside a conservation area would be lost while access to the proposed development was also ruled to be “potentially substandard”.