East Lothian Council (ELC) have published a progress update on their Climate Change Strategy. In it they mention their involvement as a key partner in the national ParkPower project we are leading on: Green Heat in Greenspaces. The results of this are due to be published in March 2021. As part of this we will be creating an East Lothian specific report together with multiple supporting GIS datasets.

The strategy sets out ELC’s commitment ‘Net Zero Council’ and a ‘Carbon Neutral East Lothian’ with specific outcomes, key priority areas and actions for an initial five year period. Achievements to date include the launch of the ‘East Lothian Energy’ affordable tariff for local residents, progression of solar PV installation on housing stock, improvement of energy efficiency within civic buildings, and increased household recycling.

Of particular note is ELC’s commitment to supporting the transition to electric vehicles.  It is one of the leading councils in Scotland in this area. It is continuing to extend its charging infrastructure and has started to support kerbside charge points for local residents with no access to private driveways.

Climate adaptation work is also progressing on flood risk for Musselburgh and new council specific design standards for new housing. Hopefully these are in line with Scottish Government plans, likely to be implemented through new building regulations, to limit fossil fuel based heating sources for all new residential dwellings from 2024.  It will be interesting to see how these revised specifications play out in practice with developers progressing the major strategic development, ClimatEvolution, near Prestonpans.

Find out more here

Green Heat in greenspaces project