AN EXPANSION of Elphinstone has been rubber-stamped almost 18 months after councillors gave it the go-ahead. Eighty new homes to the west of the village were approved by members of the local authority’s planning committee in December 2019. Now, the plans have been signed off by the planning department, with various technicalities ironed out. The scheme, which will be built between Tranent Road and the village’s football pitch, will see 76 new houses built alongside four flats. Highland Residential Developments Ltd’s proposals were unanimously approved by the planning committee a week before Christmas in 2019. At that time, Labour councillors Fiona O’Donnell and John McMillan were among those backing the plans.