Dunbar and East Linton Area Partnership
Making life better
Welcome:
This is the second quarterly letter, telling you what the Area Partnership has been doing, and what its plans are for the coming months. We hope that you find the items informative, and that they give you a better understanding of what the Area Partnership is endeavouring to do to make life better for all of us in the community.
Health and Wellbeing:
Fairhill Rise –
Up in Pishwanton Wood, high above Gifford, the Ruskin Mill Trust runs Fairhill Rise, a post educational offer for those with special needs. The photo on the previous page shows a participant busy flower arranging. In addition to woodland management and animal welfare, the participants enjoy gardening, cooking, weaving, all of which are activities that integrate practical skills with thinking and emotions.
There is a real family feel to Fairhill Rise with participants treating each other with goodwill and tolerance and providing mutual support for each other.
If you know of any individual who would benefit from this opportunity, please encourage them to talk to their social worker about it in the first place. If you get a chance to visit Fairhill Rise yourself you will find it a welcoming and rewarding experience, and the more people in the Area Partnership and the community at large who can lend their moral support to this charity the better.
Richmond’s Hope –
Earlier in the year, the Area Partnership supported Richmond’s Hope, and the good news is –
Richmond’s Hope provides support for children and young people aged 4-18 years who have been bereaved. The charity provides a safe space for children to work through their grief both verbally and non-verbally, to preserve memories of the person who has died, to explore their feelings, to develop coping strategies and to understand the impact the bereavement has had on their lives.
As everyone’s grief is different, the charity provides individual programmes of care for each child. The dedicated team of bereavement workers support children on a one-to-one basis.
The team is also passionate about educating individuals and groups about the language surrounding grief and offers training and interest visits. The training offered to external organisations aims to raise awareness of young people’s grief and how it affects their lives.
We are so pleased to be able to welcome this charity to Dunbar which plugs an important hole in the health & wellbeing of our community.
Dunbar Dementia Network –
Over the page is a photo from the archives, for it is nearly ten years since Dunbar Carers’ Support Group started to offer sessions which enabled carers of those living with dementia to get out of their houses to engage in activities and outings…to the likes of the Great Tapestry of Scotland, or Holyrood House, or a barge outing from Ratho….that bring a smile into their lives. Although targeted at the carers themselves, those living with dementia often form an important part of the family.
You can see that the activities are VERY serious.
This year the charity has extended its offering to support the needs of the bereaved. There is constant pressure for places in the main group, but many of the bereaved have created important bonds of friendship during the years of looking after their loved one. Bereavement leaves a vacuum that for some can lead to loneliness. The Moving Forward Group has been set up by the charity’s wonderful co-ordinator Lorna Bunney to meet this need and the members meet together to plan their activities under Lorna’s guidance. This frees up spaces in the main group for those on the waiting list, leaving everyone happy.
Belhaven Hospital site –
On 11th November, a meeting was held with NHS Lothian (Campbell Kerr) and East Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership (Fiona Wilson & Laura Kerr). Lyn Jardine chaired the meeting and Alasdair Swan (Dunbar), Kath O’Brien (West Barns) and Susie Fletcher (East Lammermuir) were also in attendance.
The key points taken from that meeting are:
- The NHS do not own the site – they are agents for the Government.
- The NHS has declared to the Government that the site is surplus to requirement.
- The process for disposal of the site includes:
- The Government trawl through Departments and Council to see if there is an alternative use for the site – this process has not been done yet.
- The site will then be put on the market, but not until the Community Asset Transfer process has been completed. Sustaining Dunbar has not yet submitted a CAT application, but NHS recognise SD’s note of interest.
- The NHS is not allowed to land bank sites for future health care provision.
- The NHS can organise an off-market sale, provided fair value is secured.
- The interest in Belhaven is very similar to that of the Edington in North Berwick and there may be benefit in sharing ideas and approaches with the group there to consider the following:
- Do these two sites offer an opportunity to consider different community based models of care?
- The extent to which buildings are less important in the first instance than identifying any missing services and efficient ways to deliver those, preferably in someone’s home. Social care is the critical issue.
- Could there be a way of developing service provision in North Berwick and Dunbar that safeguards provision of service that meet needs across the west of the county, as effectively as possible?
- As the NHS doesn’t have resources to provide additional health professionals in the area, there is no point in putting up a new building and expecting the NHS to staff it.
- There is a willingness for this group to meet over the next 6 months to explore the models that could improve health and wellbeing of our communities.
- Consideration of the future allocation of land within the Local Development Plan will continue to be progressed by Planning Officers
This is a fact gathering group. Lyn Jardine is happy to answer any questions people may have.
Health & Safety Workshop
Area Partnership actions
Laura Chant of the NHS led a very productive workshop which helped the Area Partnership to identify which matters of concern are within its control and which are not. We have developed an action plan around the items that are within the Partnership’s control which can be found on our website. https://delareapartnership.org.uk/current-plans/
Tenants and Residents Associations
Plans to form the High Street TRA are still progressing well, and in November the residents and the local traders put on a consultation session in the Town House at Dunbar, gathering many and varied ideas that will help to populate a plan for the future of the High Street.
The Shore & Harbour Neighbourhood Group meet this month to progress the Colvin Street project.
Roads
All four Community Councils submitted their ideas on possible Capital Projects for the Roads Department. We submitted those ideas, as promised, in November, in time for the Roads Department to consider them in the planning session in December.
Alan Stubbs of the Road Department has kindly offered to host a meeting with the Area Partnership early in the New Year to share East Lothian’s Council’s views on these proposals.
During the quarter the projects at Preston Road in East Linton and Spott Road in Dunbar were completed.
Amenities
Exciting work is well advanced at Lauderdale Park where a new play park is being installed, together with a sensory trail. More details will follow in the next newsletter.
East Lothian Plan
East Lothian Council is reviewing its Plan for the coming years.
The Area Partnership considered the key ideas that had emerged from the consultations around the Local Place Plan and determined that it will produce a first version of an Area Plan that will capture the matters of concern that you have shared with us. We will publish the Area Plan in two parts. The first part will record those matters of concern that the Area Partnership has no control over. Where the Area Partnership believes that it can exert influence it will explain how this will be done. The second part of the Area Plan will include those matters over which the Area partnership believes it has some control. The Health & Wellbeing actions referred to earlier in this newsletter are illustrative of the ways in which the Area Partnership can make a difference.
When an East Lothian Plan emerges, the Area Plan will be reviewed to ensure there are no conflicts.
Engagement with Community Groups
There is an intention to hold one or more community events in the first half of 2025 to bring together those working in the third sector, with the hope that networking will enhance what is currently being done so well in our community, and to inform residents of what is available for them.
DELAP Directory
With a similar objective of letting people know what is available in the Dunbar & East Lothian Area, which includes all of our important villages, we will be producing a Directory in April. The vision is that the printing of the Directory will be funded through advertising, and the distribution of the Directories will be the responsibility of each Community Council.
DELAP Newsletter
There are plans to launch a monthly soft copy newsletter (with printed copies in public spaces) to promote the economic activity in our Area, at the same time allowing us to communicate what is offered by the third sector in our communities.
Deputy Lieutenant of East Lothian
Congratulations to Kate Darrah on her appointment as East Lothian’s Deputy Lieutenant. One of our DELAP members, Kate has already been very active in her new role.
Welcome to Katie Wood who has taken on the leadership role at The Ridge.
Co-ordination of Energy projects in East Lothian
A new post called “Local Place Co-ordinator – Energy Projects (East Lammermuir)” is currently out for recruitment. Hosted by Foundation Scotland the three-year post is funded by transmission owners and developers working in the area. The post holder will bring together the perspectives of the council, the developers, and the community – in particular ensuring that community views are appropriately considered.
Alongside this new resource, Graeme Marsden is going to be nominated by East Lothian Council to liaise with East Lammermuir Community Council to provide a degree of oversight over all the proposed electricity infrastructure development works. He’s a Project Manager within the Development service and will be undertaking this along with other duties, including the redevelopment of the Cockenzie site. Graeme has a planning background, including coordinating infrastructure funding from developers for the last Local Development Plan. He has a good grasp of the issues and how we might approach them. This is another positive example of the community working with East Lothian Council and we are very grateful for the support of Alan Stubbs, Tom Reid and Ray Montgomery, among others. The community’s champion throughout all of this has been Chris Bruce who has driven the need for this co-ordination.
HAPPY CHRISTMAS
All of us in the Dunbar & East Linton Area Partnership wish you a very Happy Christmas and successful New Year.
If you wish to keep track of our activities, projects, grants and general news, please go to https://delareapartnership.org.uk