DCC Minutes 2024-03

Present: Mrs J Priest, Mrs A Cosgrove, Mr E Martin, Mr I Young

Mrs Shaw-Stewart, Mr R Russel, Mr D Wight, Ms A Pearson, Mrs V Hoban

In attendance: Ms A Hunter (minutes), Ruth Ellis, David Kane, John Kinnaird, Catherine and Peter Courtney

1. Apologies: Mr J Orr

2. Minutes of meeting and AGM held on 1st February were agreed.

3. Police Report

Between 1st February 2024 and 29th February 2024 there were 26 calls to the area resulting in 3 crimes being recorded:

• 1x threatening/abusive behaviour

• 1x theft

• 1x possession of drugs

The next CAPP meeting will be held on 11th April and future meetings will be at two month intervals. Mr Young will raise on-going issues at Linn Rocks and will encourage attempts to repeat the successes last year in addressing the nuisance with CCTV and police presence.

4. Matters Arising

4.1. Markle Crossing

Peter Forsyth (ELC) and Glen Henderson (Balfour Beattie) attended. Work will commence on 18th March with a target completion of April 2025, however it is hoped the new bridge will open before Christmas. Efforts will be made to re-use any soil removed to reduce the need to transport material to site. Rights of way on both sides of the railway will be maintained during development although existing routes will be amended. The crossing will remain open until the new bridge is open to traffic. Construction traffic will not come through East Linton. Large concrete beams will be transported via East Fortune and up Drylaw Hill with some widening of the verge required at Markle Road end. Plans for landscaping include planting hedges and trees in addition to planting round the SUDS. There will be community benefit through Balfour Beatty staff volunteering on small local projects.
Mr Forsyth will chase ELC regarding station signage on the A199.

4.2. Vacancies

Two vacancies are outstanding.

4.3. Local place plan

A consultation event will take place on Tuesday at 7pm in the Community Hall with the aim of refining the draft plan.

4.4. Roads

4.4.1. Bus stop sign at Orchardfield

Cllr Jardine is following up on this.

4.4.2. Preston Road

Mr Russel reported that some of the potholes have been repaired and he is in touch with ELC about the rest.

4.4.3. School Road disrepair

This has been raised with Cllr Jardine.

4.4.4. 20mph limit

Mr Russel has agreed with Keith Scott (ELC) that the 20mph limit will be extended to Noble Road at the west entrance to East Linton.

4.4.5. Signage on country roads

Mrs Shaw-Stewart and Ms Pearson conveyed the objections of residents to the level of signage on the road to Hailes Castle and the road from Traprain to Haddington. Ms Pearson will write to Morag Haddow (ELC) to object on behalf of DCC and suggest that signage at the start of each route is sufficient.

4.5. Footpaths

4.5.1. Flooding at underpass

This issue is with Cllr Jardine.

4.5.2. Salt bins

Mr Young reported issues with empty salt bins. Mrs Priest will provide contact details for ELC.

4.5.3. Mill Lade path

Mr Russel is to meet Dave Wild (ELC) to discuss how this can be improved from its wet boggy state.

4.5.4. Pencraig path

The upgrade to the path is underway. A memorial bench is to be sited at Pencraig with maintenance being the responsibility of the family installing the bench.

4.6. Meetings attended - 26/03 renewables

Mrs Shaw Stewart and Mr Wight attended meetings on the proposed developments.

Innerwick meeting was organised by the Community Council on a neutral basis. It was attended by developers for the dozen or so applications in progress and also by MSPs Paul McLennan, Martin Whitfield and Craig Hoy who all guaranteed to keep the public in the loop with any developments. Plans include extensions to existing wind farms, battery storage and transport infrastructure. A shocking presentation by an Innerwick resident on transportation issues showed pictures of devastation without reparation, small roads being overwhelmed with HGVs and even bigger transportation vehicles for the blades et cetera.
Gifford meeting was organised by Lammermuir SOS, a group opposed to the Newlands Hill development. It was attended by Craig Hoy who is against this development. Striking visual images were shown of how much bigger these turbines are than the existing instalments on the hill, and these of course are right of the front edge of the Lammermuirs and so will be visible across the county. The transportation route was discussed in detail and pictures shown of where new tracks will be laid, as well as this scale and scope of HGV transport quite apart from the route to be taken by the really heavy transporters. The Innerwick lady presented again to this meeting to give the meeting a visual feel of what will happen in our area. There was a really powerful and excellent presentation by Neville Kilkenny, a mycologist attached to the Royal Botanic Gardens, about the biological impact of the Newlands development. The scoping of the site appears to have been totally inadequate with much of it done from desks rather than on site. The meeting's attention was drawn to the tens of millions worth of constraint payments made to Scottish windfarms to shut down when there is overcapacity. Crystal Rig and Fallago Rig have been highlighted in a Blomberg report as consistently over estimating their production capacity for the days they have to shut down. Scotland's electricity generation will completely dwarf by many multiples the country's own requirements in any foreseeable timescale. It was noted that much of the electricity production is designed for England - we are industrialising on their behalf.

Mrs Cosgrove attended the Educational Trust meeting and highlighted means tested grants available for people in education which could help with laptop provision for example.

5. Planning matters

5.1. Belltown Power - Newlands Hill

Mr Kinnaird raised the scale of the transport tracks which will be 14m wide and will remove ancient monuments and be driven through Barrow Wood, which is a SSSI site, removing 10-12m belt of trees. It will also impact curlew numbers dropping from 8 nesting sites to 1 or 2. Surveys have been carried out on desktops not onsite and questions were raised over the time of year these were carried out. Ofgem estimate that Scotland is currently producing enough energy to power the whole of Scotland 3 times over. Export is hampered by the lack of usable connections resulting in large constraint payments made to switch turbines off. These payments will be exacerbated by additional battery constraint payments. DCC have objected to the transportation route. Individuals can object. The application is available at:https://www.energyconsents.scot/ApplicationDetails.aspx?cr=ECU00004603

Mr Wight raised the charter on principles of engagement which is being drawn up at Innerwick but concerns were expressed over who enforces it and the cost to the taxpayer when the developer fails to make necessary repair or reparation.

5.2. Whittinghame house application

Mrs Shaw Stewart reported that the application had no grounds for objection from DCC.

6. Finance

Mr Martin reported a balance of £470.66 with £200 to be claimed from ELC for room hire. Expenses for the LPP meeting will be met. Ms Pearson raised the point that the Tyninghame defibrillator will soon be obsolete.

7. Tyninghame/Whitekirk

Mr Wight reported that there will be a 6 month review of the cafÈ licence with residents.
Mr Martin reported that Whitekirk hall committee are looking for a new treasurer and are seeking grants to repair the hall roof.

8. Traprain/Markle/Whittingehame

Ms Pearson has reported fly tipping to ELC. Fibre broadband is now available in Whittinghame via the BT provider Supernet. Mrs Shaw-Stewart will contact Billy Agnew (ELC) about provision for other areas.

Mr Courtney raised the issue that Lothian Broad Band have not connected houses beside the bridge as it is 'too difficult'. Mrs Priest will contact Lothian Broad Band to establish if fibre can be provided via the existing telegraph poles.

9. Projects

Station Notice Board
It was agreed that the best site for a board for visitors arriving by train was the park. Funding has been applied for.

10. Correspondence

10.01 01/02 ELHSCP: update on Planning Older Peoples' Care services
10.02 02/02 F.Olsen renewables: Crystal Rig anenometer 10.03 02/02 AELCC/C Bruce ELCC & others: renewables, battery storage etc
10.04 06/02 ELC: Care & Repair events, 2&12 March
10.05 13/02 CCouncils: King's portrait offered
10.06 13/02 SP Energy: Net zero fund opens
10.07 15/02 Keep Scotland Beautiful: 2024 Review and newsletter
10.08 15/02 ELC Planning: house at Whittingehame
10.09 18/02 ELC G Talac: disabled bays at Co-op
10.10 Borders Buses: request for bus stop sign?
10.11 20/02 CAEL: ELCAN Green Futures Festival 16th March
10.12 24/02 ELC J Newcombe: bench at Drylawhill

Mrs Hoban has received a letter from a Lauder Place resident objecting to plans to widen the pavement and will forward it to Morag Haddow (ELC). Ms Pearson confirmed there is a lot of resistance from residents in Lauder Place to any plans to reduce the width of the carriageway.

11. Any Other Business

Nothing to discuss.

12. Date of next meeting: Thursday 4th April 2024