Local Development Plan

East Lothian Council has been working in partnership with the Scottish Government, The Lothian Drainage Partnership, SEPA, Scottish Water and Scottish Natural Heritage to prepare a document called the ClimatEvolution Vision and Action Plan. This document is a place-based response to East Lothian Council’s Climate Change Strategy, approved by Cabinet on the 21st January 2020 and interacts with the existing communities of Tranent, Prestonpans, Cockenzie and Port Seton and Longniddry and Macmerry. The aim of the ClimatEvolution Vision and Action Plan is to ensure that a major area of development in the county can become a national example of environmentally-friendly and inclusive development. The ClimatEvolutuon Vision and Action Plan will, once finalised, form Supplementary Planning Guidance to the Local Development Plan 2018. Potential projects for the area contained in the ClimatEvolution Vision and Action Plan include:           

• New transport hubs linking rail, road, cycling and walking
• Facilities linked to the transport hubs detailing the history of the area including the Battle of Prestonpans, which may attract tourism
• Outdoor leisure facilities
• Climate resilient planting programme
• Use of underground water, including mine water, to create geothermal energy 

Following the decision by Councillors to support the recommendations in the report to East Lothian Council on 26th May 2020 (COVID-19 Emergency Recess), the Council is running an 8-week public consultation is being held that aligns with the Council’s National Development bid submitted last month. The public consultation will ask all interested parties for their views on all or part of the strategy, which focuses on:

• Access and Movement
• The Water Environment
• Culture, Heritage and Leisure
• Greenspace and Biodiversity
• Strong Communities, Regeneration and Enterprise

The ClimatEvolution Vision and Action Plan document is accompanied by a draft Environmental Report and draft Habitats Regulations Appraisal.

How to get involved

The public consultation on the ClimatEvolution Vision and Action Plan and the draft Environmental Report will run from 12:00 am on Monday 1st June 2020 until 11:59pm on Sunday 26th July 2020 and comments are invited on both documents. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Council will not be carrying out face to face public engagement as part of this consultation. The consultation will therefore be carried out online where you can view all the documents and make comments. A webinar presentation with question and answer session will take place during the consultation period to enable direct public participation. Please check the East Lothian Council website regularly for updates on the date and time for the webinar. 

Comments should ideally be submitted by completing the questionnaire available on the East Lothian Consultation Hub. Alternatively, comments may be submitted by email to [email protected]ian.gov.uk or in writing to:

Following public consultation, all comments will be considered and any updates on progress and further work will be announced online. 

Strategic Environmental Assessment

The draft ClimatEvolution Vision and Action Plan has been through the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) screening process under the requirements set out in the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005. The SEA screening determination is available to view and download.   

Environmental Report

The above screening determination made under Section 2(c) of the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 concluded that Strategic Environmental Assessment was required for the ClimatEvolution Vision and Action Plan. A draft Environmental Report has been prepared and comments are invited during the 8-week public consultation period. Details of how to submit comments are shown above.