I met an engaging old lady the other day while I was sweeping away the debris of vomit, fag ends and takeaway detritus brought up by the predictable Friday or Saturday night tide, which day I cannot remember exactly.
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.
Unless water levels rise to more than 20m, which they won’t be anytime soon, our High Street should be immune from flooding, or so you would think (check the dynamic graphic below from Climate Central that models a 10m rise). First off though, there’s a session being run by the Scottish Flood Forum in West Barns Village Hall on the 27th of November and then at the Methodist Church on the 9th December 2014. Insurance, protection and planning are all apparently going to be covered. Of particular interest to those who stay in low lying areas, by rivers and streams and definitely anyone with a beachside/seaside property.
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 …
