East Lothian Consultation Hub

We asked

We asked your views on the Draft Poverty Plan for 2021 – 2023 that had been prepared by the Council setting out the objectives and actions that should be prioritised over the next two years to tackle poverty in East.

You Said

Twentynine individuals and six organisations responded to the survey. Organisations also took the opportunity to comment on the draft Plan at various meetings. In addition, the views of people with lived experience were recorded and presented as evidence to the consultation. A full report on the results of the consultation, including the comments made by respondents to the online consultation and people with lived experience has been lodged in the Council’s Members Library Service.

The consultation showed overwhelming support for the outcomes and proposed actions detailed in the Draft Poverty Plan.

The common theme of responses to the consultation is that there is a growing urgency that concerted action is needed to tackle the impact of the rise in poverty as a result of the pandemic and other factors such as price inflation and withdrawal of the £20 Universal Credit boost.

We Did

The final version of the Plan – Our policies, plans and strategies - Poverty Plan 2021-2023 | East Lothian Council – was amended to take account of the responses to the consultation.  The amendments included: slightly amended wording for two of the outcomes; clarification that the Plan includes the Child Poverty Plan; clarification that the Plan takes an early intervention and prevention approach to tackling the causes and impact of poverty; and the addition of quotes from people with lived experience to show the impact of poverty on people’s lives and reflect the need for concerted action.

A new East Lothian Poverty Partnership is to be formed with representatives from the Council, NHS, and voluntary and community sectors to review progress with delivering the Poverty Plan and ensuring that concerted action is being taken to reduce poverty in East Lothian.  The Partnership will also be charged with ensuring that the views of people with lived experience are heard and taken into account by the Council and East Lothian Partnership.

Whether to make a permanent 20mph speed limit covering Dunbar streets north of the railway line, following a trial in 2018-19.

Our aim was to reduce the dominance of motorised traffic, resulting in streets feeling safer for cycling and walking while still allowing the free movement of vehicles. Most streets south of the railway are already covered by a permanent 20mph speed limit.

Around 1500 responses were received, roughly half of which were online and half were responses to the paper consultation which was delivered to every household.

• 66% of respondents are in favour of retaining the 20mph speed limit, with 28% against and 6% not recording an opinion
• 56% of those in favour of the speed limit, preferred retaining the 30mph limit on the arterial route (Queens Road/High Street/Belhaven Road)

An additional question was asked about whether the new speed limit should also apply to Kellie Road, but as only 45% of responses were in favour of this.

Your comments have been summarised in a report which will be submitted to Cabinet on 21^st January. This includes additional data from speed surveys which show significant reductions in speed, particularly on Belhaven Road and Summerfield Road.

The recommendation of the report is that 20mph limits will be made permanent on all the streets north of the railway in Dunbar, with the exception of the arterial route (Queens Road/High Street/Belhaven Road) which will retain a speed limit of 30mph. The recommendation is that Kellie Road remains at 30mph. There will be a further opportunity to comment as this progresses through the statutory Traffic Regulation Order process.

For your comments on the Countryside and Coast Supplementary Planning Guidance. 

You made a variety of comments on the document, including the need to protect the countryside and coast from unnecessary or unsympathetic development. Your comments are summarised in a report which can be downloaded as Item 128/19 from the Members Library Service. This Report was available to Councillors before they made the decision on whether or not to approve the Countryside and Coast Supplementary Planning Guidance. 

We considered your comments and made several changes to the Countryside and Coast Supplementary Planning Guidance in response. The changes are shown in Item 128/19 from the Members Library Service.

The Council approved the amended Countryside and Coast Supplementary Planning Guidance at a meeting on 29 October 2019. This guidance will be a material consideration in the determination of planning applications while the East Lothian Local Development Plan 2018 remains in force. The guidance can be downloaded here: Countryside and Coast Supplementary Planning Guidance