For those of you not in the loop, so to speak, LEADER is a European funding programme, which is reckoned by the Eurocrats to be at the innovative end of the structural funds support programme, a very bureaucratic grant scheme intended to even out regional disparities in the economy. It is particularly geared to support for development in rural communities. The last LEADER programme ran from 2007-2013 and added £3.1 million to 72 projects in the Tyne Esk LEADER area, which is an appreciable number and sum.
A new programme will run from 2015-2020. To secure European Funding, there is a need to prepare a Local Development Strategy and Business Plan for the Tyne Esk programme area. Midlothian and East Lothian Councils are now consulting as widely as possible, but somehow I missed the announcement of the local workshop. Never mind, for there is an online form, commendably short and to the point.
The deadline for completing this survey is the 26th of June 2015.
Here is what I said, which is unusually short and to the point too:
What three things do you think would most help to revitalise your local community?
1. Regeneration of the old town and high street, which after some work a few years ago is struggling to be maintained, due to higher costs of maintenance of older buildings, few private investors willing to invest and difficulties in enforcing policies in and out of these buildings, and conflicts between residential and business uses e.g. the nighttime economy.
2. Regeneration of buildings at risk. New uses for old buildings require intelligent and sometimes modern solutions and quality design that is fit for the future, while retaining the character and features that make the buildings important.
3. More green spaces in the heart of the town, along the lines of St Mary’s Pleasance in Haddington, or Cockenzie House, or Dunbar’s Close in Edinburgh, which is slightly more than a pocket park. A recent audit of green space found that Dunbar benchmarked poorly, and at a guess Old Town residents fair the worst.
Are there particular opportunities you see for your area?
1. Dunbar is a Conservation Area, but we are not really seeing a Conservation Premium, rather the opposite – property prices are stagnant.
2. There are more old buildings of value here than just about anywhere I can think of in East Lothian, but they are decaying from the outside and the inside.
3. There are lots of interesting backlands that could be rehabilitated as public gardens or pocket parks. The old and many young families who do not have gardens would benefit – they are rarely provided with social housing and many flatted developments don’t have them or they were taken away.
Do you have any specific ideas for projects that would benefit your community?
1. A major town centre regeneration project which shifts the emphasis away from making it easy to park and to get away, to making the town centre a safe and more tranquil (local) tourism destination, while making it also a great place to live. Encourage businesses that are more compatible with a high residential population. Re-orientating the local economy towards sustainable forms of tourism, involving outdoor activities as well as enjoying the history, wildlife/sea and geology.
2. Some high profile renovations of local buildings – not necessarily the expensive ones – that demonstrate quality design and solutions that can be emulated by home owners, businesses and other investors/developers.
3. Rehabilitation of the backlands as community gardens and spaces, with significant formal plantings, pocket woodlands and informal spaces too. There is a plethora of child orientated play parks, but few places for the old and anyone seeking tranquillity – uses that are more compatible with the high resident population.