Chief Executive, Angela Leitch

The summer holidays are in full swing which brings us to the end of the first 6 months of 2018.

During the first half of the year the Council agreed a further three year budget covering the period 2018/21. While many national studies have evidenced the reductions in local authority funding over the last ten years we, in East Lothian, continue to rise to the challenge and target resources to priority areas while continually looking to improve and change the way we do things.

It’s impressive, that against this backdrop, we have had several external assessments which have given recognition to the work carried out by teams across the organisation:

• A double success at the recent Scottish Awards for Business Excellence, organised by Quality Scotland, with a prestigious Recognised for Excellence 4 star award and a Good Practice Award for ‘Developing our Organisational Capability’;
• a Scrutiny Excellence Award for our Tenants Scrutiny Group, at the Tenants Information Service National Excellence Awards;
• APSE award success – highlighted last month – of Waste Services and Transportation colleagues; plus
• Dunbar Grammar School’s Mock Court Team swept to glory in the USA, beating stiff competition to become the new Transatlantic Moot Champions 2018.

And there have been many more!

I’m sure there will be many other opportunities to have the work of teams and individuals recognised as we progress through the second half of the year.

One milestone we will reach later this month is the signing of the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal by the UK Government, the Scottish Government and the six local authorities in the region. This will bring more than £1.3 billion of investment over the next 15 years to the Edinburgh and South East Scotland region, and help us deliver one of the Council’s top priorities: growing the local economy. In East Lothian, the Deal includes the initial investment to develop the Food and Drink Innovation Campus at Queen Margaret University, a Regional Employability and Skills Programme and other infrastructure improvements which will help us to connect to other parts of the region. This has been a great example of our One Council approach with staff from several services working to put our plans together. Well done to everyone involved!

I hope that you have the opportunity to enjoy a holiday in the coming weeks and if you’re staying at home this year East Lothian has some fantastic events to offer including:

• the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open and Ladies Scottish Open golf tournaments, and the Scottish Senior Open (now rebranded the Staysure Tour) ;
• race meetings at Musselburgh Racecourse;
• Scotland’s National Air Show at East Fortune;
• Edinburgh Festival Fringe at the Brunton in Musselburgh and Fringe by the Sea in North Berwick;
• the Lammermuir Festival in September.

Find out more on the VisitEastLothian website.

These varied summer events are planned and supported by many of our colleagues and they provide opportunities to showcase our county at its best.

Whatever your plans this summer, do enjoy this great weather.