Owner Stirling Stewart hopes to get consent from East Lothian Council for a new building in the Harbour House Hotel's present car park at the back of the premises in Quality Street.

In a statement to the planning department, his architects explained that three car parking spaces were included in the plan, adding: "The site at present provides parking for seven cars so a loss of four spaces is proposed."

They claimed the nearby Imperial public car park was only full on high days during the summer and so, except for then, car parking was available next to the hotel.

But Gillian McGrath, who lives in Melbourne Place, said parking in North Berwick, which has seven day restrictions, was like "gold dust."

She joined other concerned householders to express their concern about the hotel plan at a recent meeting of the local community council.

She later added: "We cannot park at the moment, so if there is another possible seven vehicles plus the five spaces lost that are going to be occupied by the new premises, there is potentially another 12 vehicles going to occupy the car park."

Mr Stewart said the hotel had 11 en suite bedrooms at present and this would add a further seven.

He explained that this would ensure the financial viability of the business to move forward and added that a substantial amount of money had been invested, including at his other hotel the Nether Abbey, to raise standards.