Letter to press: Not everyone wants public car parking at Abbeylands

The circus is in town
The 11:00am rush to pick up a pie

Not everyone wants public car parking at Abbeylands, Dunbar. Over 50 signatures, all people who live nearby, believe resident parking is a higher priority. Residents have no dedicated parking provision, unlike in Haddington or North Berwick, and what long term parking is now available will be reduced to nothing if current muddled plans go ahead. Among traders and residents there is a broad consensus that the problem in Dunbar is exaggerated and being used as a political football. Councillors really ought to listen to ratepayers and not follow their populist instincts.

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The Road to Nowhere – New Dunbar Attraction

goodforresidentsandwildlifeDunbar, well Belhaven actually, is world famous for its Bridge to Nowhere. Now there are plans for a Road to Nowhere. Just weeks after we heard that the Abbey Church is once again on the market, with any prospect of much needed sensitively designed housing development being stymied, we hear that another council department have been tasked with creating another killer attraction for Dunbar … yes, wait for it a car park. The road to Abbeylands, a quiet cul de sac, is to be Dunbar’s new Road to Nowhere.

There is a fatal and incomprehensible attraction among our town planners and policy makers to the discredited policy of “predict and provide”. There is a particular obsession with providing even more space for cars, when their own policies suggest they should do otherwise and national policies are basically saying “reduce car dependency”. We all need the bloody exercise as its our arteries getting congested not the roads, even if we couldn’t give a monkeys about the planet. North Berwick is a case in point, where consultants get hired not to advise on the best way of managing the parking problem, but to identify the best place to provide  additional parking. This is not just barking it is insane. Dunbar is not a major holiday destination, not yet, as the accommodation and attractions don’t quite cut it.

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Save the Date: Save the High Street / Town Meeting UPDATE

Dunbar Traders Association have been in dialogue with East Lothian Council for a long time to unblock some of the chronic issues that they perceive affect the traders and to an extent shoppers. Latterly so have we, as individuals and as residents, but for different reasons (a chronic lack of and misdirected investments, poor maintenance and weak/absent citizen engagement).

There is a strong and common desire to make the High Street more attractive and welcoming to visitors and local shoppers, but this is hampered by overly complicated or obscure local government red tape, uncoordinated activities (and lack of joined up thinking), and lack of direction and impetus (there are too many uncoordinated initiatives, and no vision or strategy, as in Musselburgh or Haddington) and there is serious under-investment, while previous efforts have been allowed to fall into disrepair.

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