East Lothian Courier letters: November 16, 2023

More depth required

The challenges the council faces in dealing with the significant unanticipated costs for the Loch Centre swimming pool, Preston Lodge High School and Brunton Hall are well understood.
Nonetheless, it was very disappointing to read the article about the proposed long-term closure of Tranent swimming pool. The swimming club well expressed the devastation that many will feel about the future of the pool. Tranent is the only major town in East Lothian without a functioning pool and currently has the second largest population in the county.
Given the demographics and growth of the population, most would consider a pool an essential amenity for Tranent and its wider community.
It’s particularly unfortunate to have to wait 11 months for any information on the future of the pool. The response of the council, as reported in the Courier, lacked detail and many would appreciate knowing a bit more about what options were considered for the pool, including timescale and potential funding sources. 
It appears that a thorough examination of the Loch Centre was undertaken, with several areas identified as needing upgraded or repaired. However, it’s not clear whether these issues can be dealt with in a phased approach or all at one time. 
Given the urgent need to reopen the pool, was a temporary but safe “quick fix” considered for the roof to allow it to reopen as soon as possible?
In terms of funding, is any of the money the council receives from housebuilders allocated to amenities and infrastructure beyond that for building the new schools? 
Given the scale of building works in and around Tranent, it would be reasonable to expect some benefit for the wider community. Haddington, for example, is to have their gym facilities extended because of the population growth and rightly so. It’s a pity that Tranent does not, at present, have the equity of access to sports facilities that all the other large towns in the county benefit from.
It would be helpful if the council would provide more detail on future plans so that users of the centre had a better idea of what is to happen to their important community resource.
John Sowerby
Carlaverock Drive
Tranent
 

Wildlife first

We own a small area of woodland (about nine acres) named Stoneypath Wood, close to Stoneypath Tower.
We have become aware that there have been enquiries about a through path to Garvald along the Papana valley from The Old Mill, Whittingehame.
For over a century, there has not been a formal path across our woodland. It is, in fact, a piece of semi-ancient woodland that has been undisturbed over this period of time. There are not many such places left in East Lothian so it is rather special.
We bought it over 30 years ago and we have allowed it to be itself. In this tiny piece of rare, undisturbed woodland, we want to prioritise wildlife over humans.
However, we would like to have on record that we do unreservedly respect and accept the public’s ‘right to roam’ under The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003.
There is, though, no easy access from the southern end onward to Garvald beyond our wood across the river (we do not own the land from there). The river is often in spate so we would advise that great care is taken if crossing the Papana Water.
I want to let people know this for the avoidance of misunderstanding about access to our wood.
Genevieve Draper
Stoneypath Tower Farm
Whittingehame

Park objection

I wish to lodge my objection to the planned building of a new theme park in the East Fortune area based on the following points:
1. The present site of East Links Family Park is very well run and usually very busy in the summer and at weekends. It has also room to grow and expand new features.
2. The East Links site is also very well positioned from an access point of view, being close to the main road and to the A1 for access from Edinburgh. I live in the area and we rarely see traffic issues resulting from its popularity.
3. The new site near East Fortune is not easily accessible, would create much congestion in the area for residents and would utilise perfectly good agricultural land which can be used more productively for food/livestock creation and remain environmentally friendly.
Basically, I am not against well-thought-out and planned entertainment parks such as East Links and Foxlake Adventures as they are perfectly situated whereby access by the public does not create local congestion and ruin perfectly good land.
Douglas Bruce Murdoch
Edinburgh Road
Belhaven

Ignoring crisis

East Lothian Council is to be applauded for declaring a nature emergency on October 31, recognising in the words of the motion carried unanimously that “nature is in decline and urgent action must be taken to reverse this”.
Yet only seven days later, as you report (New school pitches get go-ahead in narrow vote, November 9), East Lothian’s planning committee approved a planning application from its own council that involves destroying 140 metres of hedgerow and mature trees in North Berwick. 
This is a locally recognised nature corridor and an important link between trees in the town and the open countryside.
This is the very kind of link called for in both the council’s Climate Change Strategy and its draft Tree and Woodland Strategy.
The council and its staff who work on developing these excellent policies are to be congratulated. But what are they worth if councillors choose to ignore them? 
The vote on November 7 was carried by the smallest possible majority. Thanks are due to the five councillors who recognised the biodiversity loss and threat to nature involved.
By referring the decision to Scottish Ministers, there is a chance that the pitches will be provided by using one of the alternative options that were open to the council; the trees and hedgerow will be saved; and the council’s credibility as a champion of nature will not be completely ruined.
Jeremy Gass
Links Road
North Berwick

Change needed

In the last edition of the Courier, one article noted that East Lothian Labour held their annual general meeting where they promised “to keep listening, working and campaigning to earn local people’s support in the months between now and the General Election”.
However, as the administration of East Lothian, Labour have failed to tackle pressing issues facing the county. This includes addressing increasingly long GP waiting times, the worsening condition of local roads and capacity issues on public transport, while they continue to greenlight new housing developments without adequate provisions in place to meet rising pressure placed on public services in East Lothian.
Labour have been in charge of the council for the last 11 years but claim they have a financial black hole of more than £70 million for the next five years. 
This is after spending millions of pounds on consultations for unpopular proposals such as parking charges in North Berwick, active travel consultancy fees, the refurbishment of John Muir House and paying for council staff to work from home.
They have declared a climate emergency and a nature emergency but then voted to rip up a hedgerow in North Berwick for two pitches at North Berwick High School against the wishes of local pupils and their parents.
They claim to support local high streets while greenlighting out-of-town retail centres for national brands like Lidl and Starbucks, in addition to supporting town centre parking charges, which will be the death knell for many high street businesses across the county.
The speakers at Labour’s AGM all called for the need for “change”. Given the East Lothian Council Labour administration’s failure to prioritise the people of East Lothian in their decision-making, or to take the necessary steps to manage its budget, any “change” should involve the current administration and will not come with the election of a Labour MP at the next General Election.
Tim Hunt
Haddington

Socialist plan

I feel that the Blairite Labour Party member Noel Foy, the non-aligned Scottish nationalist Jack Fraser and the aligned Scottish nationalist MP Kenny MacAskill have a complete misunderstanding of the causes and conditions of the Hamas-Israel conflict (Courier Comment, November 9).
The reality is that capitalism means war just as much as a cost-of-living crisis, poverty, exploitation, environmental catastrophe and/or inequality.
Over 100 years ago, British imperialism through Lord Balfour offered the Jews a homeland in Palestine as a means to divide the Arab masses from overthrowing their economic capitalists’ interests in the Middle East. Once the Arab revolutionary movement receded, the British capitalists backtracked and it was only because of the Holocaust that a Jewish homeland became a reality.
Our correspondents call for a ceasefire, but a capitalist ceasefire will only be historically temporary; another Gaza war would erupt sooner or later because the representatives of capitalism seek to serve the interests of big business, especially armaments, in terms of the three Ps – power, prestige, profits – within the world economy which Israel is heavily tied to.
Therefore the only way to begin to address the national demands of both the Israeli and Palestinian masses is by advancing the idea of two socialist states. 
Genuine socialists call for the immediate withdrawal of the Israeli military from the occupied territories; and, more importantly, the building of independent workers’ parties in Palestine and Israel, with links between them that will fight for an independent socialist Israel and socialist Palestine, with two capitals in Jerusalem and democratic rights for all social and religious minorities under workers’ control and management.
Jimmy Haddow
Socialist Party Scotland
Tranent

Fantastic music

On Tuesday, November 7, we had the pleasure of attending the Peter Wood Scholars’ Concert in the Peter Wood Concert Hall at Loretto School, a gift from the Wood family in memory of their son.
It felt like the start of Christmas – as we walked through the autumn leaves on the school grounds, we could hear the skirl of the Loretto Pipe Band. That set the scene for a night of fantastic music.
We were entertained by a musical feast: piano, French horn, beautiful singing, haunting music on a harp. What a rich mix – it was all in there, from Rachmaninov to Lady Gaga to Aladdin, ABBA, Chopin and more!
Congratulations to headmaster Graham Hawley, his highly motivated staff and tutors and, of course, the parents who have the patience to support the young musicians! We are fortunate to have such a fine school in our town.
Adrian A. McDowell
The Promenade
Musselburgh