Plans to blend a new house into its rural surroundings with a green planted roof have been rejected by East Lothian planners.
The proposals for the four-bedroom house next to North Berwick's Drinking Water Tank - a listed building - were ruled to breach the council's policy against new houses in the countryside.
And the town's community council argued it would "harmfully alter" North Berwick's 'iconic' skyline.
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Applicant Tom Tait had argued that the site of the new house was just 180 metres from the town's boundary, and would be on a corner of an agricultural field which had become unusable because large farming machinery could not access it.
The new home, at The Heugh, North Berwick, would have had a roof covered with green sedum - a type of plant which grows out in a mat shape.
Agents acting on behalf of applicant Tom Tait argued that 14 houses had already been built next to the site which they claimed was infill between the homes and the Category-B listed water tank.
However planning officers ruled that despite the green plans for the roof of the house, it would "set an undesirable precedent for the development of new houses within East Lothian's countryside".
They said: "The erection of a house on the application site would not, by virtue of its architectural form, size, scale, massing and materials, be well integrated into its surrounds and would not be in keeping with the existing group of buildings of The Heugh to the east, or the water tank building known as Heugh Reservoir."
Sixteen objections to the plans for the new house were lodged, with concerns about the loss of prime agricultural land, impact on wildlife and the views at the site and claims it would 'dwarf the existing pair of houses to its east".
North Berwick Community Council objected over the visual impact of the house on the area.
They said: "While the grass roof makes an attempt to minimise the visual impact of the proposed house it still clearly sticks out above the ground harmfully altering the iconic skyline of North Berwick."
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