May 2025 Newsletter

Making life better

Welcome:

The Area Partnership’s May Business Meeting highlighted just how much work is going on in the third sector here in Dunbar and East Linton. Particular highlights include the opening of the new Black Bull offices for The Ridge, at the end of a long and challenging journey, the wonderful Dunbar and East Linton magazine produced by Jo Waddell and the DTA, the appointment of a renewables co-ordinator by East Lammermuir, and the launching of a new VSEL radio show.

More challenges lie ahead, in particular the consultation over the parking proposals for Dunbar which take place over the coming month. We all have a part to play in encouraging friends and families to complete the survey to give their views.

Dates for your diary:

  • Dunbar Parking drop-in session – Thursday 22nd May Dunbar Town House at 2pm – 4.30pm and 6pm to 8.30pm
  • Innerwick Primary School Fair – 24th May
  • Dunbar Primary School Fair – 30th May
  • West Barns School Fair – 7th June
  • East Linton Gala – 14th June
  • Dunbar Civic Week Fair Day – 14th June at Bleachingfield
  • Dunbar Football Tournament – 14th June at Hallhill
  • Dunbar Civic Week Picnic – 15th June at Lauderdale Park
  • Relay for Life – 21st June
  • Innerwick Flower Show – 2nd August
  • Oldhamstocks Gala – 16th August
  • Stenton, Spott and District Flower Show – 23rd August 

For fuller details of events please go to https://ourdunbar.com/events/

Parking:

The proposed changes to our town are subject to consultation this month. Stantec have been commissioned by East Lothian Council to share the plans with the community on 22nd May and it is vitally important that as many people as possible complete the survey to record whether they believe the plans to be good or bad for the town. https://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/news/article/14506/dunbar_parking_consultation_launched

Dunbar Community Council is also seeking its own feedback from the community, aware that these changes may alter the way residents and visitors shop on the High Street, use Bleachingfield, or visit the recreational facilities at the Leisure Centre and Lauderdale Park. There will be a Public meeting at St Anne’s Church, Dunbar on 8th June at 19:00.

The proposals will change the whole feel of the Old Town and it will be important that as many people as possible express their views, both to Stantec and to the Community Council, to say whether they believe that this is a positive or negative idea. The Community Council will then take your views forward to East Lothian Council.

VE Day:

The 80th anniversary of VE Day was celebrated by several organisations in the town. Members of the Intergenerational Group and Dunbar Dementia Support Group were invited to the walled garden at Belhaven Hill School to enjoy an afternoon tea and listen to the children read family letters. These were written by their great grandfathers and great grandmothers during the war and spoke of the anxiety and courage that they experienced during those difficult years. 

Roads:

The Roads Department has offered to improve one of the following projects a spart of the Area Partnership’s priorities.

  1. Repairs to the A1087 Belhaven Road
  2. Resurfacing of Boroughdales
  3. Resurfacing of Lauder Place, East Linton
  4. Footway resurfacing of Forth View
  5. Footway resurfacing of Newhouse Avenue

None of the above were listed as priorities of the Area Partnership at the start of the year, so discussions will be on-going to understand why the above options have been selected.

The Area Partnership has prioritised – 

  • Safe routes to school
  • Broader and safer footpath along Spott Road

Amenities:

A productive meeting with the Amenities Team confirmed that they are open to discussions on helping with any community projects. Currently they are active with the community in the following areas:

  1. Dunbar – Lauderdale Park’s sensory path.
  2. Dunpender – Community Garden
  3. West Barns – School bench
  4. East Lammermuir – Spott Path.

Health & Wellbeing:

In the last newsletter, the need for link workers in our area and the ability to refer patients to the Leisure Centre for supervised exercise was discussed. It does appear that we have secured funding to keep both of these projects alive – more on this next month 

– but in the meantime we are working with our colleagues in the North Berwick Area who are also active in this space.

Community learning workshop:

Earlier this month the Area Partnership organised a workshop, open to the public, to review the current learning and development challenges facing our community. One of the ideas that emerged from that session was the possibility of intergenerational training, with our young people teaching basic computer skills to our older population.

This could become a reality later in the year when Belhaven Hill School’s new Computer Technology classrooms are completed. The School is working closely with Dunbar Grammar School and the Primary Schools and, between them, there is a real possibility of turning this educational opportunity into a reality in the coming year. This is the current construction status –

…and here is the vision of what will emerge –

Screenshot

There is a long lead time at the moment before our children can get swimming lessons in the town. Belhaven Hill School is keen to engage with the community by offering access to its pool for swimming lessons to ease this problem. Before it can do so, the school needs to put a roof over its swimming pool, a project that is planned for completion in 2026.

High Street History Day:

Congratulations to the Dunbar Trades Association and the High Street Residents’ Group for organising the Dunbar High Street clean-up, followed by a most successful High Street History Day. There was no doubt that the event, including informative lectures and tours, was very popular.

Community Awards:

West Barns will be awarding its Community Cup on 29th May.

Dunbar’s Civic Week Queen will be awarding Dunbar’s Community Awards on 17th June.

More details on the winners of these awards will follow next month.

Grants:

The Area Partnership has a General Fund of £45,000 in 2025/26 out of which it can award grants to community groups in the area. The first grant awards will be made at the Business Meeting at the end of June.

Area Plan:

The final draft of the Area Plan was signed off by the Area Partnership at its May Business Meeting. It is now in the public arena on the DELAP website – https://delareapartnership.org.uk/current-plans/. It now gets submitted to the East Lothian Partnership for its approval and at the same time we will welcome comments and ideas for further improvement from the general public.

Local Place Plan:

The Dunbar and West Barns Local Place Plan has been out for its statutory consultation and will now be submitted to East Lothian Council so that it can be taken into account when the council develops its own plan. There has been encouraging support for the Plan and for the leadership of Jo McNamara and Jo Waddell, and we are grateful to those who have come up with constructive comments as to how we can make this a better place for all.

Dunbar and East Linton Magazine:

Every household in the area should have received a personal copy of the magazine through their letter box by now. This has truly been a labour of love, but it has been wonderfully well received.