Abbeylands Residents – Page 7 – High Street Dunbar

Welcome new housing at Station Road? Well not exactly …

I supported the recent application for 17 houses at Station Road on the grounds that this would have a positive impact on the local economy and bring much needed higher quality housing closer to the centre of Dunbar. Moreover the new residents might not be so dependent on the private car, being proximate to the Rail Station and only a few minutes walk to the High Street. But our local Councillors on the planning committee – such a forward looking lot – were minded to turn down the application on the grounds that the old Local Plan foresaw this area of private land becoming a car park, despite advanced proposals existing for developing a major facility next door. OK they went against advice from their own officers and stranger things have happened in Dunbar.

Continue reading Welcome new housing at Station Road? Well not exactly …

The pointlessness of CCTV

Back in 2009 I objected to the application by East Lothian Council to install CCTV on a number of grounds, not least because I find the creeping intrusion into our lives of the state and large business, aided and abetted by a supine media, morally dubious and unnecessary as well as contributing to an increasing sense of public anxiety.

The proposed camera installations would have a negative impact on character of the Dunbar Conservation Area.

The proposal to use the finger post outside Abbeylands was actually dropped (they realised this was utterly daft?) and the CCTV fixed to the lamppost instead. But hardly an outbreak of commonsense, as the existing lamppost apparently was not strong enough to take an extra couple of kg, so they erected a monstrously oversized and ugly lamppost to replace the existing, at god knows what extra cost. In fact they installed a total of 3 of these ugly buggers and no one I have spoken to has been impressed. Continue reading The pointlessness of CCTV

Common as muck

It seems that nothing upsets local constituents more than dog mess. Just ask your local Councillor what their most common complaint is. I hate it as much as anyone, but there’s plenty more that upsets me than dog muck, unless someone inadvertently tramples it through my house.

Repaired only 15 years before – a good repair need not be expensive, but needs to be done correctly

Regular roof maintenance is required but the enemy of old buildings is cement

Rebuilding stacks can be expensive, but should last for centuries

Continue reading Common as muck

Why did the chicken cross the road?

As every schoolboy knows the answer is “to get to the other side.” Many, including this opinionated bien pensant, will understand the reason that the chicken does stuff is fundamentally a philosophical question. There is more to it than just getting across the road.

Why it even helps explain why East Lothian Council Transport Department does things the way it does. I checked the canonical texts over at philosophy.eserver.com, and substituted “ELC Transport Department” for the ubiquitous chicken. To save you time, I suggest that ELC Transport Department is – unlike our beautiful cock – an incongruous and weird mashup of Plato, Marx, Hume, Reagan and Thatcher, though I am sure my readers – all 3 of them will have alternative interpretations. I only wish they would ask Constable. Continue reading Why did the chicken cross the road?