Chief Executive, Laurence Rockey

I hope you enjoyed the September holiday weekend and managed to get an opportunity to relax and re-charge the batteries. As ever, huge thanks to the many colleagues who will have been working or on call across the four days, keeping essential frontline services running.

I’d like to congratulate our colleagues who were involved in work to repair North Berwick Harbour, after it suffered severe damage almost two years ago. The team behind the harbour wall’s reconstruction, together with our contractor and design partners, were category winners at the recent Scottish Civil Engineering Awards 2025. A fantastic achievement – well done to all!

I’m really keen to recognise the hard work, commitment and achievements of employees across the whole council and am really looking forward to November’s new Inspire Awards, when we celebrate those who have made an exceptional contribution. Thanks to everyone has made a nomination. The deadline is midday on Friday, 19 September – so please get your nominations in soon if you haven’t already had the chance.

Visits and council business

It's been a really interesting few weeks for me. I’ve been fortunate to get the chance to meet with a number of colleagues as well as partners around East Lothian. As a relatively new recruit myself, an obvious highlight was attending an induction session for employees who have recently joined the organisation. I enjoyed the format and it was fantastic to see colleagues in a variety of different roles coming together – demonstrating the breadth of what we do as a council.

While we have one of East Lothian’s biggest workforces, another significant local employer is EDF Energy, specifically at Torness power station. Accompanied by Scott Kennedy – our Emergency Planning and Resilience Team Manager – I was delighted to visit Torness last week and meet many of the team there, including Station Director, Paul Forrest (see photo of me and Scott top right). We discussed the continued relationship between the council and Torness, the station’s future, apprenticeships as well as the opportunities presented by the energy sector generally. It was also great to hear about some of the close relationships we’ve built over the years, which we see the benefits from through the likes of visits to our schools.

I’m also continuing with my programme of visits to every school in East Lothian, which included time at the Wallyford Learning Campus. After completing a tour of these wonderful buildings, I was able to spend some time with the catering team (see photos right in the kitchen and below with Head of Education Nicola McDowell and Rosehill High School Head Teacher Gail Preston). I was massively impressed by the quality of our food and commitment of our people. I was also made to feel very welcome on my visits to Dirleton Primary School and North Berwick High School – it was great to meet so many friendly colleagues and young people, thank you.

Last week was also an opportunity to discuss important issues with trade union colleagues, while myself and other senior colleagues gathered with elected members in Haddington Town House for a Cabinet meeting, when items on the agenda included strategic workforce planning and Freedom of Information compliance. All in all, a very busy few days!

Council business will be a focus in the weeks ahead, with a dedicated council meeting when members will be asked to make a decision on the next steps for the Musselburgh Flood Protection Scheme – a very significant infrastructure and environmental project.

I hope you have found this update interesting. Look out for more in my next weekly vlog!