East Lothian Consultation Hub

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

We asked our tenants, applicants and stakeholders for their views on the review of the Council’s Housing Allocations Policy. There were eight proposals for change up for discussion and we asked for your feedback.

Over 2,300 surveys were returned that contained over 10,000 comments on the policy review. Analysis showed that there was majority support for all eight of the proposals for change.

Having the collective support of our tenants, applicants and stakeholders provided the Council with a mandate to proceed with the Housing Allocations Policy review. All of the comments collected during the consultation process formed part of the Consultation Register and were responded to by the Housing Allocations Working Group. A  Consultation Report was produced and submitted to Council and Elected Members detailing the consultation outcomes – this is also publically available. The revised Housing Allocations Policy will ‘go live’ on the 1^st May 2019.