As summer draws to a close, I am rapidly approaching six months in this “new” role. Since I last wrote the pace has picked up significantly as the path forward takes shape and it’s time to delve deeper (to mix metaphors!).

The focus so far has mainly been on getting to know the lay of the land, the community, the energy infrastructure and proposals, the energy consents process, the issues, aspirations and possibilities, and the key players in the Council, and to implement improvements to communication and information sharing.

Moving forwards two areas of focus are opening up. These build on the foundation laid so far, complementing and enriching it:

Firstly, we have been considering in more depth what an Energy Projects Partnership is and exploring its emerging possibilities. We are breaking new ground and as we trial new ways of working, we are aware that there is interest from other areas of Scotland about what is happening here. This rural area, with its cluster of energy developments, is not alone in navigating a just transition to net zero, in which the community has true agency. We are working out ways to nurture this strategic vision and to enable learning to flow to and from this area, for example by establishing an advisory group.

Secondly, the prospect of harnessing this partnership working to enable community-led development is at the forefront of my mind. Back in May the community voted on their 4 key priorities to take forward from the Local Place Plan. Since then I have been working with SPEN, the Community Council and other local groups, to organise a series of workshops over the autumn, bringing together energy developers, transmission owners, community members, East Lothian Council and representatives of key local groups and organisations. These will map the work already underway or in planning in each area and seek to clarify the next steps. The workshops are being funded by SPEN as part of their capacity building work to prepare the way for community benefits from the Eastern Green Link 1 project, but are also intended to inform the spend of other community benefits available to the East Lammermuir community and in-kind work available from energy developers and transmission owners.

If you are reading this as a member of the community or someone local who would like to get involved in taking forward any of the 4 key priorities, please reach out to me at beth@elep.scot

Throughout all this high-level strategic planning, I am committed to stay grounded and maintain the flow of information to and from the community about issues like construction traffic impacts and so back to finishing off my latest e-bulletin….if you’d like to keep updated on local information about the energy developments, you can sign up to receive these here!