Draft Minutes of meeting of Dunpender Community Council
held on Thursday 4th December 2025 at 7.30pm in The Stables

Present: Mrs J Priest Ms A Pearson Mrs A Cosgrove Mr D Wight Mr H Thomas Mr R Russel Mrs F Constable Mr M Askey

In attendance: Ms A Hunter (minutes), Cllr L Jardine, Ken Ilgunas

General meeting

• Apologies: Mrs E Gill

• The minutes of the meeting held on 6th November were agreed.

• Matters Arising & New Matters

3.1 Plantlife

East Linton resident Ken Ilgunas attended to explain about the Plantlife competition taking place next year in East Linton. Plantlife is the international conservation membership charity working to secure a world rich in wild plants and fungi. Last year they held a competition in Drayton, Summerset as part of their No Mow May initiative. Ken visited the area, interviewed participants and reported on this for the New York Time and suggested the next competition be held in East Linton. A a Plantlife representative will visit East Linton in Feb/Mar 2026 to provide information to interested parties on how to make their spaces as eco-friendly as possible. Participation in the competition will be voluntary and generally confined to residential properties although the school and the church may be involved. Another visit will take place in June to judge results. He will provide Ms Pearson with a short summary for Dunpender News and further details will be made available once dates are confirmed.

Some concern was expressed over the public spaces around the Hall, the Square and the Park with a view that the council kept these tidy to the benefit of residents and visitors. These are not likely to be involved in the competition. Mrs Constable raised the ELC Nature Networks initiative and Cllr Jardine encouraged engagement with ELC around their plans to support biodiversity. It was agreed that nature friendly spaces can co-exist with more maintained space.

3.2 Community Adaptation Events

DCC previously communicated to Scott Kennedy (ELC) regarding what was known at the time as Community Resilience providing contact details for relevant organisations. Local communities are well connected via Whatsapp and DCC will not take on further responsibilities which they consider the duty of ELC. Cllr Jardine suggested a conversation with Scott Kennedy to identify gaps in provision and sources of funding to fill these. Mrs Constable will take this forward and attend a CAEL meeting in January.

3.3 Drylaw Speed Limit
Complaints have been received about speeding on Drylaw Terrace. The original consultation for 20mph limits had that limit starting at the entry to East Linton north of Dunpender Road. Implementation resulted in the 20mph limit moved to the start of Drylaw Terrace on the basis that no houses fronted onto the section between there and Dunpender Road. Mr Thomas will contact Keith Scott (ELC) to investigate moving the speed signs to maintain the 20mph zone past Dunpender Road. A number of ELC policies may apply including the pavement with vulnerable pedestrians, the crossing to the John Muir Way footpath used by families on Drylaw Hill to attend school and the multiple limit changes from 20/40/20 when using Dunpender Road. Cllr Jardine offered to assist.

3.4 Vacancies Two vacancies exist. Mrs Constable volunteered to represent Whitekirk and attend North Berwick and Coastal Area Partnership (NBCAP) meetings. A further attempt will be made to recruit a member from the Stewart Milne estate once a residents association is in place. Mrs Priest has alerted village halls to potential funding from the Tyne and Esk Rural Development Fund (info from NBCAP).

• Report back from meetings attended

• LNER Stakeholder

Mrs Cosgrove was disappointed that LNER are focussed on serving Edinburgh, Newcastle, York and London. They have no focus on Berwick and reduced stops there will result in East Linton losing convenient connectivity to onward trains.

• RAGES

As part of the new timetable the 5.49am southbound will no longer stop at East Linton or Dunbar but will continue to stop at Reston. Tom Dickson has written to TransPennine urging reinstatement of these stops and Mrs Cosgrove has contacted Paul McLennan.

• Scottish Parliament Cross Party Group on Rail

No attendance.

• All About Nature gathering

Mrs Constable attended a meeting of the East Lothian Biodiversity Collective on 24th November which showcased groups operating in the region. There was a presentation from the Tweed Forum about creation of a 130 mile pathway along the River Tweed. Future priorities are restoring biodiversity in different landscape types and considering natural solutions to flood risks.

• Association of East Lothian Community Councils (AELCC)

Mr Thomas will attend the next meeting on 9th Dec where the issue of parking charges is expected to feature heavily. Cllr Jardine raised the point that it is not only residents of the towns facing parking charges who are affected but also residents in satellite communities.

• Police Report / CAPP meeting

Halloween and Bonfire - only Kingsburgh Gardens reported as having nuisance fireworks. Officers carried out patrols around East Linton area to tackle wildlife crime and recovered numerous nets and hidden fishing equipment from the Tyne. PC Laura Jackson will pass on her duties to PC Diane Bath.

Between 30th of October and 1st December 2025 there were 53 calls to the area. This resulted in police recording 11 crimes, categorised as follows:

• Protecting the most vulnerable (Missing Persons, Elderly, Hate Incidents, Domestic Abuse.)

1 x Miscellaneous

• Reducing Violence and Antisocial Behaviour

1 x Assault
1 x Threatening behaviour

• Reducing Acquisitive Crime (Crimes of Dishonesty)

2 x Fraud
1 x Theft

• Improving Road Safety

1 x Fail to stop after an accident
1 x Careless Driving 1 x No Insurance
2 x Miscellaneous

• Area Partnerships

Mrs Cosgrove reported that funding requests were oversubscribed at the last DELAP meeting meaning no-one received the full amount. Ms Pearson received funding for picnic benches to be sited at Pencraig and Traprain but is £1006.21 short. She will apply to BeGreen Dunbar for the remainder. Mrs Cosgrove has suggested the church apply to the LNER Community Fund for the proposed new garden. Concern was raised that some of the applications were for salaries and some projects were not fully defined.

• Finance

Following payments for defibrillator pads and the website the available balance is £2,186.23. It was agreed to pay £100 to Dunbar Foodshare. £1006.21 will be retained in case it is required to cover the cost of the picnic benches for Pencraig and Traprain.

• Planning / Licensing / Consultations

Nothing to report.

• East Linton/Preston

9.1 Flooding
Mrs Cosgrove reported that Scottish Water have been on site in Stories Park and will return next week to complete repairs to pipes required due to damage from tree roots.

9.2 Notice Boards Mr Russel had been led to expect that the boards would be installed by the end of November. He has contacted ELC.

9.3 Defibrillator at Surgery Ms Pearson has installed a new battery and the unit is fully functional.

9.4 White Line (High Street) Mr Russel has contacted Keith Scott(ELC) to request white lines be continuous on the High Street.

9.5 Railway station sign Mrs Cosgrove contacted Bear Scotland who will speak to ELC about signs for East Linton Station at the A1 exit. She will also contact Callum Redpath (ELC) about signs within Andrew Meikle Grove to direct people to and from the station.

9.6 Cycle Repair Point Mr Askey questioned the value of providing this at a cost of over £1000 given that cyclists who are able to carry out their own repairs normally carry the required tools. Mr Wight will attempt to determine how much these facilities are used. Mr Askey highlighted the next Repair CafÈ on 31st January where people with no or limited knowledge of bike repair bring their bikes for repair and learn skills at that time.

• Tyninghame /Whitekirk

• Tyninghame Speed Limits

Mr Wight confirmed the extension of the 40mph on A198 to Lawhead was agreed by ELC. He has written again to ELC councillors regarding the proposed 20mph in Tyninghame and making Lime Tree Walk a quiet road. The response has again refused the 20mph limit request and suggested traffic monitoring on Lime Tree Walk in January.
He has responded to inform ELC that traffic monitoring would be more appropriate during the summer months. At the Pop-up Pub night in Tyninghame a rep from Ryden Commercial Property confirmed they in contact with ELC with a view to having the fallow field adjoining Tyninghame to the north rezoned for housing. The proposed development would be in keeping with the most recent new housing in the village. Residents feel that more executive housing is not required and that a more modest low cost development would be more welcome. Also the field in question was proposed by DCC to ELC to be identified in the LDP as an area for potential community growing. Three properties on the main street, owned by the estate, which have been empty for over 2 years will be highlighted to ELC Empty Homes Officer.

• Traprain/Markle/Whittingehame

Mrs Gill provided the following update. I am following-up on signage - lack of signs, signs going missing, and also the sign at the east T-junction which looks like it has been knocked down again. I also want to check with ELC about gritting - they gritted most of the U159 during that very cold spell but did not grit the road down into Markle.
Mrs Shaw-Stewart is progressing the repair/replacement of signs at Whittingehame.

• Projects

12.1 Dunpender News
Ms Pearson and Mr Russel confirmed the copy will be sent to the designer tomorrow with a distribution date of January. Mrs Cosgrove has identified someone prepared to distribute the News.

• Any Other Business

Mr Thomas has a list of accommodation premises from Ralph Averbuch which may be interested in copies of the walks leaflet. Mr Russel and Ms Pearson will let him know of premises in the local area.

Mrs Constable and Mrs Gill discussed the potential for a questionnaire to be included in Dunpender News to gather thoughts on the future of the library which is considered for closure due to scoring red on future sustainability. Questions were raised about the future of the day centre and flats in the same building. The person responsible for the next phase of the review will be invited to a DCC meeting.

• Date of next meeting: Thursday 8th January 2026 at 7.30pm