I was delighted to have my first experience of one of the incredible East Lammermuir Energy Developments public meetings on the evening of Monday 19 May 2025 in Innerwick Village Hall. Representatives from renewables and transmission infrastructure developments, at various stages of planning or construction in the local area, took it in turns to present. The theme was how developers and transmission owners propose to “leave our area better than they found it”, in particular focusing on community priorities outlined in the Local Place Plan.

Around 45 community members, 20 developer / transmission owner representatives and various East Lothian Council Officers and elected politicians filled the village hall for the event, which was hosted by East Lammermuir Community Council (ELCC). Chris Bruce, ELCC Chair, spoke about the four strategic community priorities which have emerged from the Local Place Plan and asked community members to vote on whether these reflected their priorities for the first five years. Local residents voted strongly in support of the four priorities overall:

1. All properties within one kilometre of construction works, haul roads or access routes on public roads should be brought up to a minimum of EPC band C, with any appropriate micro renewables included. 
2. A useable, effective Active Travel Network of segregated paths should be planned, designed and built – to include at least one safe crossing over or under the A1 and mainline railway towards the coast and Dunbar 
3. A public or community transport service should be re-introduced to link the villages with Co’path and Dunbar 
4. An ambitious biodiversity gain plan should be devised, agreed and implemented with maximum use of developer support for local volunteers and other relevant aspects of the plan.

The presentations which followed gave some interesting insights into how developers and transmission owners intend to contribute to community priorities through community benefits (in kind and funding), biodiversity net gain projects and even some mention of shared ownership opportunities. Check out the presentations in the documents library on the Energy Developments website.

All this activity will need a strong foundation of good communication between developers / transmission owners and the community, which was the focus of my short presentation as Energy Projects Partnership Manager. I had two messages:

• Local community members can now sign up to receive news and updates on Energy Development here
• Developers / transmission owners were asked to check their information on the East Lammermuir Energy Developments website and send in any updates to circulate to the community

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the event, it will be exciting to see how all these plans unfold over the coming months and years!