Action group is ‘at breaking point’
Over the last few weeks, the Musselburgh Flood Protection Action Group has run support workshops to help locals write their objections to the proposed Musselburgh Flood Protection Scheme (MFPS). The workshops have been full and our volunteers snowed under by people worried their letters were in the correct format or had enough detail.
The action group is run 100 per cent by volunteers who want to protect the natural beauty and accessibility of Musselburgh’s River Esk.
What little support Musselburgh people had been offered by councillors and the design team about the proposed MFPS has now ended. People are instructed to read the documents, prepared by qualified engineers.
It would take one person 16 days to read the thousands of pages. The documents can be viewed online or at only one place in Musselburgh during working hours on weekdays. One set of documents for 20,000-plus people!
A copy can, however, be purchased for £1,000!
Opposition to the proposed MFPS has been significantly undermined by councillors deciding, 24 hours prior to approving the scheme and moving to the 28-day objection period, that the Musselburgh Active Toun (MAT) (essentially wide cycle paths) is to be withdrawn from the scheme.
Why? MAT requires public consent via planning permission. The councillors and the scheme designers have known all along that planning permission for MAT is a legal requirement. All the parts of MAT that direct the MFPS design (narrowing the river, double ramps for bicycle access, adding new bridges and building higher walls) remain in place. The provision for MAT is on all the accessible information and the environmental report prepared by the scheme designer. This makes objections by the people of Musselburgh more difficult.
Many in the action group are at breaking point with stress, struggling to meet the demands for help that are being requested. I hope that the council and the scheme designer take the time to read this and feel some compassion and perhaps even reconsider what they are planning for Musselburgh.
Is the proposed design what the people of Musselburgh want? Are taxpayers prepared to contribute 20 per cent (presently estimated at about £21 million pounds) to fund this? The council does not have this money – they will borrow it.
Please object to East Lothian Council’s plan to waste your hard-earned money. Advice and information on how to object can be found at pausethefloodscheme.com/ objection-letters
Objections should be submitted by Saturday (to be on the safe side) and can be emailed to cgrilli@eastlo thian.gov.uk or mfpsobjec tions@eastlothian.gov.uk Eve Dickinson
Musselburgh
An East Lothian Council spokesperson said: “In developing proposals for the Musselburgh Flood Protection Scheme, there has been significant community engagement in different formats over a number of years. This has proved to be very helpful in enabling the project team to incorporate feedback, producing an outline design focused on reducing flood risk using established and evidence-based techniques, while retaining the town’s historic character and natural environment. The Flood Protection Scheme is subject to a specific approval process, separate from other projects. At January’s meeting of East Lothian Council, elected members agreed that the developed design could be presented to stakeholders and the public through a formal, statutory consultation process The formal phase of consultation is now underway. All information required to enable members of the public to prepare their comments, representations or objections is contained with the published suite ofscheme documents.”