Preferred candidate for Chief Executive role announced

Laurence Rockey has been announced as the preferred candidate for the role of the council’s new Chief Executive.

Laurence – who is currently Director of the Scotland Office – will replace Monica Patterson. Monica is retiring after 15 years with the council, the last five of which have been spent as Chief Executive.

Council Leader Norman Hampshire said: “I would like to congratulate Laurence on his new role as our Chief Executive. This will be a fantastic appointment for East Lothian Council and the county we serve.

“As part of a rigorous recruitment and selection process, a number of high-calibre candidates applied. Elected members on the appointment sub-committee were greatly impressed by the expertise and commitment to public service by those who applied.

“As an outstanding candidate, Laurence was able to demonstrate a depth and breadth of experience. He has all of the qualities required to be a successful Chief Executive, while building on our successes and the excellent work of Monica Patterson.

“Working alongside a strong leadership team and our many skilled and committed employees, Laurence will ensure the council is well-positioned to address the challenges and maximise the opportunities that lie ahead. We look forward to working with him.”

‘A really exciting time’

Laurence said: “I am absolutely delighted to be preferred candidate for the role of Chief Executive at East Lothian Council.

“I look forward to working with the whole council to ensure we continue delivering high quality services for the residents of East Lothian.

“It is a really exciting time for East Lothian with some major opportunities for economic development in the pipeline. I look forward to helping deliver these.”

Background

Before taking up his current role with the Scotland Office in November 2020, Laurence was the Head of Strategy and Communications at the City of Edinburgh Council. In this position, he held responsibilities for corporate strategy, council wide change and performance, and communications.

He previously held a number of different senior civil service roles in the UK Government. He played a key role in the creation of City Deals and the wider devolution agenda. Laurence was the Head of the Cities Policy Unit in the Cabinet Office from 2013 to 2015 and the Head of Devolution Strategy at the Cities and Local Growth Unit from 2015 to 2016.

Laurence’s start date, as well as interim arrangements following Monica Patterson’s retirement on 14 February, will be confirmed in due course.

Weathering the storm: Éowyn's impact

Storm Éowyn brought very strong winds to parts of the country, including East Lothian.

The Met Office issued several amber and red weather warnings with the entirety of the UK having either yellow, amber or red warnings in place for Friday 24 January. The strong winds associated with Storm Éowyn and the red weather warnings represented a danger to life from flying debris, dangerous driving conditions, power cuts and damage to buildings. 

East Lothian Council's multi-agency response to Storm Éowyn

In the face of Storm Éowyn, we demonstrated excellent coordination and readiness through our multi-agency response. The Emergency Response group, comprising key service colleagues and partner organisations such as Police, Scottish Government and Scottish Power Energy Networks (SPEN), held regular meetings before, during, and after the red weather warning. This collaboration ensured a co-ordinated response to the storm's various challenges.

Proactive planning and early warnings

When the weather warning was upgraded to red, early planning and preparation were crucial. Swift decisions regarding school and early learning closures, waste service arrangements, and the closure of public buildings not only safeguarded staff but also provided the community with advance warnings, allowing residents to make necessary arrangements. Staff were advised to work from home where possible, ensuring their safety.

On-the-ground efforts during the storm

While many staff members worked from home, several teams were out in the storm, working tirelessly to keep roads clear, remove debris, deal with fallen trees, and provide vital care to those in need. Their efforts were essential in maintaining access for emergency services and ensuring the safety of the community.

Public communication played a pivotal role in our response. Using the website, social media, and press networks, consistent and reliable information was issued to help communities prepare and respond effectively. This ensured that residents could take appropriate actions to stay safe. 

Ongoing response and clean-up operations

The response and clean-up operations continued, with more reports being received in the days following the storm and ongoing tree works. Public buildings, while not severely damaged, are undergoing repairs to roof tiles, flashing, and gutters while fencing at Gullane Primary School is also being repaired. Buildings remain open during works ensuring minimal disruption to services.

Community support and resilience

Some residents faced power outages with around 2000 homes affected at the peak and some homes remaining without power as late as Wednesday morning, five days after the red warning came into place. The British Red Cross had a presence in Innerwick to provide residents with blankets, hot drinks and the offer of general support while SPEN arranged a food truck in other areas to provide a hot food to those still impacted by power outages.

US Consul General visits East Lothian

The Stars and Stripes flew over Athelstaneford last month as the United States Consul General in Edinburgh, Kathryn Porter, visited the county.

Ms Porter assumed charge as U.S. Consul General in Edinburgh in August 2024 following previous overseas postings to Moscow, Krakow, Johannesburg, Toronto, and Tijuana. 

Invited to tour East Lothian by Provost John McMillan, the Consul General visited John Muir’s Birthplace Museum in Dunbar, the Flag Heritage Centre at Athelstaneford, Glenkinchie Distillery near Pencaitland and the new Edinburgh Innovation HUB. At each stop on their short tour of East Lothian, they met with staff, trustees, and business leaders to hear about their work and ongoing connections with the USA.

Provost John McMillan said: “East Lothian has deep and historic links with the United States, not least through John Muir who is seen as instrumental in the establishment of the network of National Park in the U.S. and continues to inspire people all over the world to this day. Some 25 per cent of overseas visitors to East Lothian are from the U.S. and we were very happy to hear from the Consul General that ‘brand Scotland’ continues to grow in popularity in the USA.”

U.S Consul General Kathryn Porter said: “I am deeply impressed by the rich cultural heritage and innovative spirit of East Lothian. The strong ties between our communities are evident in the shared history and ongoing collaborations we witnessed during this visit. I look forward to fostering even greater connections that will benefit both the United States and East Lothian.”

Replacement of the council's booking system

Work is ongoing to transform our council service delivery portfolio into an innovative, efficient service within our financial constraints. Currently, room and estate bookings are conducted in wide range of ways using systems that are not fit for purpose. The Lets and Bookings project aims to develop a corporate bookings system on a Zipporah platform that is fit for the council's specific needs.

Phase one is simply a replication of our current systems’ functionality into the new system to ensure continuation of service. Expansion of the system to include refinements, hot desks, open spaces, events and customer online self-serve will roll-out in later phases.

BookingLive will cease to take bookings on 14 February and the new Zipporah booking system will be rolled out for use on 17 February. All bookings in BookingLive will be migrated over to the new system before 17 February.

The Zipporah booking system is very user friendly however, support material will be available from the room bookings page in the coming weeks. To discuss the project please contact Senior Project Officer Kellie Jewell kjewell@eastlothian.gov.uk

To report a fault with the Corporate Booking System please contact the Digital and Systems team cssystems@eastlothian.gov.uk phone 01875 824084

Planning Committee agrees consultation response to battery storage facility

East Lothian Planning Committee met on Tuesday 4 February and heard three applications including a battery storage facility at Cockenzie.

Members voted seven to four in favour of a proposed response to plans for a battery storage facility on land south-west of Inglis Farm, Cockenzie, consisting of 140 lithium-ion battery containers intended to provide electricity for export to the grid from batteries which would store surplus electricity to be fed into the grid when required at short notice. The item was called off the Scheme of Delegation List by Councillor Yorkston due to local concern.

Applications of this type in Scotland require the consent of Scottish Ministers, with applications processed by the Energy Consents Unit (ECU). The Council is a statutory consultee.

The proposed battery storage facility (BESS), had come to committee in June last year at which point it was agreed to submit an objection to the proposals. Since then, the council’s Chief Planning Officer had liaised with the ECU and conditions for the original objection had been resolved. Planning officers had recommended no objections to the amended application, which is broadly similar to the original, with a small change of splitting the development into two ‘parcels’ of land. An amendment proposed by Councillor McMillan and seconded by Councillor Yorkston was unanimously approved and recommended that the local community councils were to be consulted should a site safety management plan be required and that the ECU should ensure it was satisfied that the site did not pose an unacceptable fire safety risk.

Committee unanimously approved a change to a condition involving landscaping at the Cala Homes (East) Ltd development already well underway at Saltcoats Field, Gullane.

An application to build a new, single storey detached house on garden ground at Dirleton Avenue, North Berwick, was refused six votes to five by the committee. The application had been called off the Scheme of Delegation list by Councillor Allan for a full discussion. A total of nine representations had been received; three of which were letters of objection and six were letters of support. Planners had recommended refusal due to road safety concerns. A motion to continue the application for further information to be provided was outvoted.

The relevant application numbers are: Cockenzie, 24/00008/SGC; Gullane, 24/01266/PM and 18/01366/AMM and North Berwick, 24/01140/P.

 

Budget development update presented to Cabinet

An update on the funding settlement for local government and its implications for East Lothian Council’s 2025/26 budget was provided at a Cabinet meeting on 21 January.

Council approves 6.5% rent increase for council tenants

At a full meeting of East Lothian Council on Tuesday 18 February, councillors took the decision to approve a 6.5 per cent rent increase for council tenants for 2025/26, to maintain services and increase our modernisation programmes as well as continuing to deliver new build council housing. 

A rent level consultation with council tenants had been carried out at the end of 2024, which proposed an increase of seven per cent. Just over half of tenants agreed with the need to increase rent, with 75 per cent of those who responded agreeing that the rent they paid was good value for money, but 63 per cent disagreed with a seven per cent increase. 

At the meeting, Council agreed to increase rents for 2025/6 by 6.5 per cent with an extra £1 million in investment in all of the next five years to fund modernisation work for existing council homes. Councillors also heard that there are plans to deliver 774 new affordable homes by 2029/30 (cumulative since 2022/23). 

On average, while a new-build house will bring in under £5,000 in rent each year, the cost of building a new council house has increased significantly in recent years and is now in excess of £200,000. Without additional government funding or a review of the rent strategy this approach will become unsustainable over the medium term. In the context of elevated interest rates and increased costs to deliver new build affordable housing, alongside lack of certainty in government funding, Council agreed to review the longer-term strategy for the HRA, encompassing the business plan and future rent levels as well as a review of oversight and scrutiny arrangements for housing policy, performance and strategic planning. Plans are already underway to achieve a rent restructure in 2025/6. 

Councillor Andy Forrest, Cabinet Spokesperson for Housing and Property Maintenance, said: “Despite being one of the fastest growing local authority areas in Scotland, East Lothian’s council house rent levels are among some of the lowest. We know from consultation that the majority of tenants believe that their rent is good value for money and that they want us to use that rent to keep investing in modernisation work and bringing more new properties into council housing stock to ease pressure on our housing list. 

“This 6.5 per cent increase means an average weekly increase of £5.25 in what our tenants pay. My thanks to everyone who took part in the rent level consultation. I hope it is clear that this increase is absolutely necessary to maintain current levels of service to our tenants and to make improvements in our modernisation and new build programmes.” 

Councillor Forrest added: “I also welcome the review of oversight and scrutiny arrangements for housing policy, performance and strategic planning, as this will ensure that we can continue to deliver on our priorities.” 

Council also approved a Housing Revenue Account expenditure budget for 2025/26 of £40.958m, an increase of around £2.8m on last year, which will be spent on service costs including repairs and staffing. The Capital budget of £43.820m will be invested in new council housing, modernisation, extensions and energy efficiency improvements to existing council properties.

 

Free energy advice for council clients

Do you work with clients you think might benefit from energy advice?

Changeworks East Lothian Energy Advice Service offers free and impartial energy advice and support with fuel bill and debt issues. The service is open to East Lothian Council tenants, homeowners and those in private rented accommodation. Advice is available over the phone, online or face-to-face during a home visit. Support can be delivered in a way most appropriate to the client and acts as an early intervention approach to tackle fuel poverty.

Changeworks’ advisers can assist householders to reduce their energy use through low carbon behaviours and tackling high energy costs. Advice is available to ensure householders are getting the full benefit from their existing heating system as well as energy advice tips and tricks meaning households should see a reduction in energy costs

The Changeworks team also provide support with accessing funding where appropriate and help bill payers manage debts and set up payment plans with their energy supplier.

It’s very straightforward to refer someone for support from Changeworks. If you have the person’s consent you can do this on their behalf or they can request a callback themselves at www.changeworks.org.uk/referral

Those who are not online can contact Changeworks by telephone on 0800 870 8800. Their phoneline is open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.