Stuart reflects on nearly five decades of outstanding public service
The end of an era is approaching as Stuart Baxter, Connected Communities Manager, prepares to retire on 23 March.
Stuart has been reflecting on a long and varied career, which began straight from school in 1977 as a Trainee Civil Engineering Technician with the Scottish Special Housing Association. In 1980, he moved to the Highways Department of Lothian Regional Council, where he completed his training. He worked across East Lothian, Midlothian and Edinburgh - contributing to major projects, including the Edinburgh City Bypass.
“We were working on the bypass for years. It was a huge project,” Stuart explains. “It was nice to see that finish. It’s become such a critical piece of infrastructure to this day.”
With local government reorganisation in 1996, Stuart transferred to East Lothian Council, where he remained for the rest of his career.
'Big change'
“Coming into the council was a big change, as you got to know colleagues who had previously been part of the district council and some of my colleagues from the old regional council went to other new councils.”
His roles in East Lothian included Consultant Engineer, Senior Area Officer and Operations and Engineering Manager. During this time, he served as Project Manager for significant developments such as the initial access road to Queen Margaret University and the Wallyford Park and Ride.
“Those were great projects to project manage," he says. "I also enjoyed my time looking after the maintenance side of things with the design team and the roadworkers. I had a period of time when I was looking after both. It was certainly a busy time but enjoyable.”
Stuart was appointed Musselburgh Area Manager in 2015 which later became Connected Communities Manager in Musselburgh, where he led on a number of initiatives including Musselburgh Communities day, a local community market, the “Your Voice Your Choice” participatory budgeting programmes and feasibility studies at Fisherrow Harbour and Levenhall Links boating pond.
In 2022, Stuart reduced his hours and moved to a job-share arrangement in the Connected Communities team in Haddington.
Connections and community work
“I started the Area Manager job on April Fools Day - but it turned out brilliantly. One of the first things I did was a walk through the community - Wallyford and Musselburgh - to look at what we could do together to make a difference. It was good to get people involved. We did loads of great projects with the Area Partnership. All quite big projects. I had quite a lot of connections in the town and was able to build on these. I did presentations to the likes of the conservation society and rotary club. It was all about working with the community.”
Alongside his professional work, Stuart has over 20 years of voluntary experience supporting local communities. He has served with both the Cockenzie and Port Seton and Longniddry Community Councils - holding positions of Chair and Vice Chair - and spent more than 17 years as Chair of the Association of East Lothian Community Councils. He also ran hotels in Port Seton for around a decade.
Building on his engineering qualifications, Stuart went on to achieve a Master’s Degree in Business Administration. He is a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Chartered Management Institute and is also a Chartered Manager.
As he looks towards retirement, Stuart is excited about spending more time with his daughters who live in Queensland, Australia.
A keen hillwalker, he joined a group - mainly colleagues from East Lothian Council - who have carried out fundraising events for cancer charities including climbing Kilimanjaro in 2020.
“I won’t be moving to Australia, but it’ll be nice to just go there without the thought of having to get back to work," he says. "So there will be more options. Whether my daughters will be happy about that remains to be seen! There’s a huge amount of variety over there and things to see and do.
“Every Saturday, the group goes walking up Arthur’s Seat. We don’t have any more Kilimanjaros planned, but we will be doing the Rob Roy Mighty Hike in August to raise money for McMillan Cancer Support.”
'Fantastic place to live and work'
While Stuart acknowledges retiring after a long career is a significant change, He feels fortunate to have worked alongside so many hardworking, committed and dedicated colleagues, and will miss being part of the East Lothian Council team.
“Over the years it seems the council has had and more and varied things to do, as well as bigger financial challenges. There is also a more varied workforce these days. There are more opportunities to work with colleagues across different services here in a bigger council, certainly when compared to Lothian Regional Council.
“I saw myself as a public servant first and foremost. It’s great to be part of the council and in doing so it’s important to remember you work for the community. You can’t always please everyone but I’ve always tried to do things to improve quality of life in East Lothian as a whole and do the best for people.
“The variety and different communities is what makes East Lothian such a fantastic place in which to live and work.”
Eamon John, Head of Communities and Partnerships, said: "Stuart has given a life time to public service and East Lothian. He will be truly missed by so many but everyone here. We thank Stuart for his enormous efforts on behalf of the county and send him our very best wishes for the future."