Partnership

New name and ten-year plan for East Lothian Community Planning Partnership

A new ten-year plan to improve East Lothian communities’ health and wellbeing, safety and financial security has been agreed.

The East Lothian Community Planning Partnership’s Board met on 9 March to approve the 2026-2036 Local Outcome Improvement Plan as well as a new name and streamlined governance structure to strengthen local voices in community planning.

Statutory body

The East Lothian Community Planning Partnership, formerly known as the East Lothian Partnership, is a statutory body that brings together public organisations including ours, NHS Lothian, Police Scotland, voluntary sector and communities to identify priorities and plan services. It carried out extensive engagement to create the new plan, distilling responses into three themes: Living Well, Keeping Safe and Money Matters. These were then subject to further engagement with communities and partners before being agreed by the Board.

Living Well highlights wellbeing, staying connected with others and communities, and healthy and active places and spaces. Money Matters is in line with the Partnership’s poverty plan prioritising the creation of good jobs that pay fairly, enough money from benefits, a good life with access to essentials and climate change ready. Keeping Safe covers a range of matters that impact people and communities from online safety and community-based issues to gender-based abuse and climate adaptation.

Strategic groups for each of the three themes will bring together relevant agencies to plan and take forward actions.

Name change

The East Lothian Community Planning Partnership agreed a name change to address feedback gathered during its consultation that people did not understand its work, role within community planning or standing as a statutory body recognised in law. Ongoing communication will be taken forward to raise awareness of the Partnership and to evidence its impact through better data gathering and reporting through the Plan’s lifetime.

QMU Local Impact and Global Reach: open event

All are welcome at Queen Margaret University’s annual open event on 22 April from 4.30pm to 7pm.

A diverse range of themes will be featured, including:

using music to support wellbeing
approaches to caring for children with cerebral palsy
prehabilitation in healthcare
social enterprise developments
supporting students with autism

The evening event, ‘Local Impact and Global Reach’, will provide visitors with a unique insight into the diverse work taking place across the University.

Designed for representatives from business, industry, healthcare and voluntary organisations, along with local community members and QMU graduates, the event will include a fascinating range of exhibition stalls, a short talk by the Principal and Chair of Court, optional tours, and refreshments. Visitors will have the chance to meet researchers and academic staff at an informal fair, where they can learn about new research, community engagement initiatives, collaborations, creative initiatives and innovation-led projects from across the University’s School of Health Sciences and the School of Arts, Social Sciences and Management.

As part of the evening, guests will also be invited to take an optional tour of QMU’s new public artwork installation, commissioned to mark the 150th anniversary of the University.

If you're interested in discovering more about the University’s research and innovation work, collaborative partnerships and community-focused projects, you can book your free place via Eventbrite.

City Region Deal at halfway point - Innovation Hub a major benefit

EIH entrance

The Edinburgh Innovation Hub, which welcomed its first tenant in December last year, is one major benefit for East Lothian thanks to investment and partnership working as part of the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal (ESESCRD).

Almost 30,000 jobs have been created or supported across the Deal region since 2018 thanks to ESESCRD, which is at the halfway point in its 15-year delivery timeline and has already contributed £3.6 billion in economic growth.

From Fife to the Scottish Borders, the Deal is delivering investment across housing, transport, innovation, culture and skills and employment.

The Edinburgh Innovation Hub (EIH), next to Queen Margaret University (QMU), is one of seven across the area designed to increase links between university research and industry.

The Council welcomed an update report on the Hub in October last year, which showed that the completion of this £40m flagship development by the council and QMU signalled the project partners’ ambition to create a nationally significant facility to capture, support and grow innovation-led enterprise in East Lothian and the Edinburgh region.

EIH is a joint venture between our organisation and QMU featuring flexible laboratory, office and fully equipped meeting and conference spaces for rent by small to medium enterprises. The venture has been supported by £10m from our council budgets as part of ESESCRD, £28.6m from UK Government and £1.4m from Scottish Government

It will help to initiate development of the wider Edinburgh Innovation Park on land adjacent to the QMU campus. The development was granted planning permission in principle in March 2019, as part of a wider mixed use development, including new homes and a new primary school, business & industry use and community facilities.