Plans for 735 new homes near Mayfield

A virtual public exhibition of the proposals by Springfield Properties Ltd is expected to be held next month.

The company has lodged a Pre Application Notice for its housing plans, which cover four sites identified in Midlothian Council’s Local Development Plan (LDP) as future housing sites.

The notice from Springfield Properties covers just under 68 hectares of land, on both sides of Crawlees Road just outside Mayfield , currently used for agriculture, highlighted in the LDP as Lingerwood, East Newtongrange, Dykeneuk and South Mayfield.

And a separate application asking the council to rule whether the land will need an environmental impact assessment (EIA) describes the overall site as having the potential for 735 houses.

The public exhibition and a web consultation will be held on Wednesday, April 28, between 4pm and 7pm. Details of how to take part have not been released yet.

News of the site, which developers described in the EIA request as “significant”, sparked concern on social media as community councils shared the application.

One resident on Mayfield and Easthouses Community Council’s Facebook page said: “Wow, that’s some size of site”, while another added: “Looks like I’m living smack in the middle of a building site for a wee while.” Another pointed out: “That's impossible with the infrastructure we have.”