An initial bid to create a newly built hangar on the Gilmerton estate, south of the current museum at East Fortune, was refused by East Lothian Council in February after it ruled the removal of trees breached its Climate Change Strategy.

Despite a recommendation to approve the plans by the council’s officers, the committee voted in the majority to refuse the application because the loss of 299 trees was “to the detriment of the climate of East Lothian”.

The museum told the council’s planning committee the proposed site for the new 18-metre-high hangar was the only acceptable place and had been chosen after long negotiations with HES.

And it has argued that the removal of the trees is the only way to clear a path large enough to transport its historic collection of planes from the current site.

In its response to the museum’s appeal, East Lothian Council said it would be willing to consider a new site to the west of the airfield on the neighbouring Gilmerton Estate as a better location.

It read: “East Lothian Council is not opposed to the proposal of a new hangar; however, East Lothian Council is opposed to the proposed location.”

But Historic Environment Scotland, which has responsibility for the airfield where the original museum is built, said it would probably object to the centre being placed on the western spot.

In a statement lodged with the appeal, HES said it had been in discussions with museum bosses for close to 15 years over the new visitor centre and backed their initial proposals.

It said in 2006: “One alternative option on the west side of the scheduled monument was noted as being potentially problematic.

“If presented with a similar options appraisal today, we would likely provide similar advice, that being that the construction of a large visitor facility near the end of one of the runways would likely impact on key views along that runway.

“We would consider views along and from the runway of an airfield to be a key characteristic of the cultural significance of the site, and proposals that impacted on these views would likely result in a negative impact.”

HES said that view had not changed and remained advice it would give applicants, and it said of the impact of 299 trees being destroyed and the centre built to the south of the scheduled monument: “We would not consider the trees of Sunnyside Strip to be directly related to the cultural significance of the scheduled monument – they are visible, but do not relate to our understanding of the monument as a wartime airfield.”

More than 200 objections to the appeal have been lodged with the Scottish Reporter.