Chief Executive, Laurence Rockey

I’d like to take this opportunity to say a huge ‘thank you’ to everyone involved in ensuring everything ran smoothly for the Scottish Parliament election.  

This includes everyone from our Democratic Services team who handled everything from liaising with candidates and recruiting staff to work at polling stations and at the counts; all the teams involved in preparing the count venues for the big day; everyone who helped with postal votes and those working on polling day and at the count in every capacity. Thanks also to those of you who ensured our own services kept running as normal while staff were engaged with the election process.

It was a massive effort, particularly so this year as we were responsible for two separate constituencies - East Lothian Coast and Lammermuirs and Edinburgh Eastern, Musselburgh and Tranent as well as the Regional List count for both of those constituencies. As it was my first time in the role of Returning Officer, I was especially grateful to everyone for helping me with this huge responsibility.

And my congratulations, of course, to our newly elected MSPs - Paul McLennan for East Lothian Coast and Lammermuirs; Kate Campbell for Edinburgh Eastern, Musselburgh and Tranent and our Edinburgh and Lothians East (Region) MSPs, Kate Nevens, Angela Ross, Irshad Ahmed, Miles Briggs, Q Manivannan, Katherine Sangster and Kayleigh Ferguson Kinross-O’Neill. You can see the full results on our website and the Regional List results on the City of Edinburgh Council website.

Meanwhile, progress continues on the Musselburgh Flood Protection Scheme. You can read a full report in this month’s Inform and on our website but, in short, not only is the team preparing for the forthcoming Scottish Government Public Local Inquiry but we had agreement from Council to start the detailed design of the scheme early due to uncertainty around a funding cap on the national flood protection scheme programme and deadline changes. Starting this work early will help ensure the scheme’s delivery if it gets the go-ahead from Scottish Ministers following the Inquiry.

Meanwhile, I’m looking forward to some light relief. There’s a fantastic exhibition on until September at the John Gray Centre giving everyone the rare chance to see some of one of Port Seton’s most famous son’s formative and lesser-known works. Whether you’re already a John Bellany fan or new to his work, it’s a fascinating insight into one of Scotland’s best-known artists and a real must-see. It’s free entry too. Well done to our Museums colleagues for setting this up with the Royal Scottish Academy and curators Helen Bellany and Alexander Moffat.

We’re also fast approaching the Silver Arrow shoot in Musselburgh on Saturday 16 May. It’s reputed to be the world’s oldest sporting trophy still competed for. Amazing! Let’s hope the sun’s shining and it’s a great turnout. You can still see a special exhibition on the tournament at Musselburgh Museum until Thursday 14 May.