Dunbar and East Linton Area Partnership
Making life better
Welcome:
A very Happy New Year to you all!
Do follow us on –
delareapartnership.org.uk
Recent grant awards:
Dunbar Grammar School’s Tour of the Battlefields –
Dunbar Grammar School is an inclusive community which supports all parents and carers for whom the cost of school is a challenge, with the aim of giving students equal opportunities throughout the school. Part of the Dunbar Guarantee to families is to offer all S3 students an overseas residential experience to the Battlefields of France and Belgium. The number of families who are struggling to meet the cost of school is growing. The grant from the Area Partnership enables the school to continue to offer equality of experience against a backdrop of rising costs.
The Area Partnership covers the four communities of Dunbar, Dunpender, East Lammermuir and West Barns. One of our key objectives is to ensure that children growing up in these communities do not feel left out, and can enjoy the full experience that school can offer.
enjoyleisure’s safety equipment at Dunbar Leisure Pool –
Swimming lessons at Dunbar Leisure Pool enhances the quality and accessibility of swim education for our local children. In a semi-rural and coastal area this is critical.
Currently, swim instructors face challenges in delivering effective lessons without having designated spaces for instruction and rest. The Area Partnership grant will fund benches that will provide a safe and structured environment, enabling instructors to offer age-appropriate and ability-specific guidance while fostering positive engagement amongst young learners. Moreover, by incorporating visual cues through brightly coloured benches, children will be better able to follow instructions, enhancing their overall comprehension and confidence in the water.
Ultimately, this essential equipment will support a safer and more enjoyable swimming experience for all participants, helping to deliver education within the community.
Spott bridge –
Looking after our own health through regular walking (or similar exercise) is one way to improve the health and well-being of our community.
The Area Partnership grant has been awarded to enable a bridge to be reestablished over Spott Burn to provide a walk through Spott Glen that is accessible for the infirm, elderly and families with young children.
The present footpath includes steep steps. The new bridge and footpath will allow better and wider access for all by providing a shorter more accessible route. The present footpath includes steep steps. The new bridge and footpath will create a shorter and more accessible route.
East Linton Fountain –
Every community has features that define the heritage of the place and capture the feel of the community we live in. The fountain in East Linton is one such feature.
The Area Partnership grant contributed towards the replacement of the cracked underground tank which feeds the Fountain, restoring its functionality.
Future grant awards:
We expect the last of the £45,000 we received this year to be allocated shortly. Please refer to our website if you have a project that requires support, particularly if you feel that it will make life better for all of us, and especially the disadvantaged. You may have missed out this year…but there always is next year!
Health and Wellbeing:
Belhaven Hospital site –
Lyn Jardine once again invited the Community Council representatives to review the options for the Belhaven Hospital site, this time with the East Lothian Health & Social Care Partnership. This took place on 7th January and an authorised and consistent briefing will be communicated as soon as it emerges from ELC.
Dunbar Day Centre –
The Day Centre held an Open Day on 18th January to allow local residents to see the service that is offered between Monday and Friday every week, offering referred members of the public entertainment, company and a good meal.
The Day Centre is full to capacity every day and the staff also offer an outreach service. The Community Outreach Service at Dunbar Day Centre is wholly person-centred. It can be used to give respite to carers, provide social interaction and reduce isolation, or something more specific. The service provided can be adapted to the individual and their carers’ needs.
Tenants and Residents Associations
High Street Residents’ Group –
Dunbar High Street Residents Group intends to provide a voice for, and co-ordinate projects benefiting, those living on and close to the High Street and West Port. Currently, the organisation is in the process of being constituted, and the intention is to hold a brief AGM on the 28th January at the initial social to appoint officers and ratify the constitution.
Flyers will be distributed to all residences on the High Street.
Roads
The role-bearers met with Alan Stubbs and Callum Redpath as planned on 16th January. The East Linton community greatly appreciate the improvements to Preston Road.
Projects that are coming up in the next two months are:
- Resurfacing of Dunbar’s High Street between West Port and West Gate
- Resurfacing of Dunbar’s Castle Street
The Roads Department thanked all of the Community Councils for
submitting their requests for capital projects. When these can be fulfilled
will depend on funding. Once the 2025/26 budget has been confirmed.
Road Services will issue a minimum of 4 suitable schemes derived through the Needs Assessment process for the Area Partnership to select their preferred scheme for financial year 2025/26 Roads influential spend.
The schemes are likely to be issued late in April when DELAP next meets with the Roads Department.
DELAP were encouraged to look for other funding sources for some of the projects and we will explore what is available.
Bleachingfield
A Banking Hub is coming to town and the temporary facility will be housed in the refurbished central part of Bleachingfield.
Drop in sessions will take place at Bleachingfield in the coming weeks to explain the services that will be available.
The site for the permanent Banking Hub has yet to be determined.
The work that is currently going on at Bleachingfield will provide the town with sound-proofed pods which will be well suited for confidential advice and small meetings. These pods are currently used by schools, social workers, housing advisors and as elected representatives’ surgeries.
Amenities
Our thanks for to the Amenities Team who took down the finger post at the Lamer Street playpark which was becoming increasingly dangerous. Temporary signage will go up shortly, thanks to the Shore and Harbour Neighbourhood Group, and Kenny Maule in particular. The format chosen keeps the traditional look of the town, is low cost to buy, easy to maintain and easy to replace.
The Town Centre Group is considering what the best signage will be for the centre of town, and the Shore initiative will give the community a chance to express their views on the pilot scheme.
Community Learning workshop
20th February 4pm to 6 pm
This workshop will take the same format as the Health & Wellbeing workshop, and will be an example of how the Area Plan will evolve, incorporating specific actions that members feel they can deliver in the area of community learning.
Surveys
There is an opportunity to comment on Community Benefits.
https://consult.gov.scot/offshore-wind-directorate/community-benefits-net-zero-energy-developments
As funding sources dry up for our important third sector organisations, community benefits from renewable energy projects in East Lothian become even more important for us.
We are conscious that East Lammermuir and Dunbar are current beneficiaries, while Dunpender and West Barns are not. The same imbalance can be seen across the whole of East Lothian.
East Lothian Equalities Outcomes 2025-2029
East Lothian Council would like to hear your views on its themes, and your suggestions for action, to help it understand which things are most important to you.
https://midlothiancouncil.citizenspace.com/planning/equality-outcomes-2025-2029/consultation/intro
Although this looks as if it is coming from Midlothian, your answers will be directed to East Lothian Council
Stephen Bunyan
We are sad to have to record the death in December of Stephen Bunyan, one of our members and the most loyal of community leaders, who actively participated in our community life for more than five decades.
Community members
We have written out to our community members to see whether they wish to remain part of the Area Partnership in 2025/26.
The current community members are:
- The Ridge
- Sustaining Dunbar
- Dunbar Trades Association
- Climate Action East Linton
- Home Start
- Bleachingfield
- VCEL
- Innerwick Parish welfare Association SCIO
Any community group wishing to become a member can apply to the Chair.