Even during the heyday of empire a century ago, East Lothian was a sleepy country cousin of its dynamic Lothian sibling. Back then, despite the industrial might of Glasgow, Edinburgh buzzed with brewing, publishing and the law, West Lothian exploited shale oil and manufacturing and Midlothian boomed with coal mines. These latter only grazed East Lothian’s Western edge. Apart from a couple of coastal resorts, most of the county stayed bucolic.

While all suffered the stasis of the seventies, by the 1990s, Edinburgh’s focus on finance, tourism and the regenerative effect of the Scottish Parliament brought a booming economy to Lothian, from which all parts seemed to benefit.

At least, that’s how East Lothian Council (ELC) has been telling it. Immediately prior to the Covid pandemic, GDP per capita for Lothian was rated at a prosperous £32,600z-roughly the UK average. According to ELC, its residents shared in this relative affluence.

“There were 3,180 businesses in East Lothian in 2018, a growth of 665 (26%) from 2010. This already greatly exceeds the EDS target of an additional 350 businesses by 2020.”

—East Lothian by Numbers

But how well does this represent East Lothian’s economy? When the ELC was formed as a Unitary authority the population was 86,000. This grew to90,000 by 2001 and to 109,580 by 2021. This growth is faster and steadier than any other of Scotland’s 31 council areas.

Given ELC’s high-minded statements of strategy and this influx of largely affluent, educated residents, might this compact county not transform into a dynamic hinterland for Edinburgh, much as Cambridgeshire has for Cambridge, or Silicon Valley for San Francisco? It is a picturesque, unspoiled recreational haven, blessed with excellent road and rail links to the nation’s capital. 

Unfortunately, research into more incisive figures do not appear to bear this rosy view out. For its first decade to 2006, ELC occupied itself with integrating departments like Education from the defunct Lothian Region. Increases in council tax were largely spent on mainstreaming Scottish Government social policies and wrestling a £156m PFI project for schools into place.

Despite a four-year quickening of pace by an SNP/Lib-Dem coalition during the financial crisis which still managed to implement Single Status for staff, slash limousines and other perks, and quash a dubious £149,000 payoff to a Chief Executive, Labour resumed sclerotic business-as-usual after 2012.

This meant not much business at all. Touting figures for business growth, as given above, was poor compensation for Cockenzie power station closing, along with several small hotels, Whitekirk Golf Club, Proquip, etc. And still the largest employers remain ELC itself and Torness power station.

ELC has not been entirely bereft of business initiative. This year, it is spending another £100,000 on a master plan for the huge Cockenzie brownfield site beside the Forth to replace the £150,000 one it commissioned seven years ago and has yet to start any implementation.

The last decade of ambitious ELC statements have proved as hollow as the first’s. Far from “providing high quality employment pathways for East Lothian’s workforce”, this has been done by Edinburgh. Local professionals living in East Lothian mostly seek jobs elsewhere.

Like the rest of Lothian, East Lothian’s economy was hit by the global economic downturn. But recovery struggled. In 2015, East Lothian GVA was £1,737 million, representing a 4% growth since 2006, lagging Edinburgh’s 13% and Scotland’s at 12%).

Jobs density is 0.62, compared to the Scottish average of 0.82. And, of those jobs, East Lothian provides only a third in well paid occupations, like finance, insurance and IT. The bulk of local jobs are low-pay, such as hospitality, social work and retail.

A larger proportion than nationally are self-employed sole traders, administrative workers, secretaries or carers, implying smaller incomes and contribution to the county’s GDP. Also significant is, of the 53,000 in employment, almost 20,000 commute out of the county for work, principally to Edinburgh. These are predominantly salaried, professionals. Barely  33,000 of the 53,000 are employed within the county. 

Despite ELC rhetoric, their patch is a dormitory with a third-world economy. The furious pace of over 17,000 new houses on ELC’s quarter-century watch has seen no matching growth in either opportunities or infrastructure.

What makes the story of ELC’s stewardship of this third-world economy all the more tragic is the opportunity missed to turn the county into a modest replica of Cambridgeshire. For all their lavish use of the word “strategic’, ELC wouldn’t know a strategy if they found one in their soup. They pants at capitalising on small opportunities (c.f. how The Loft turned their canteen into a money-spinner or the thousands they pass up not licencing ice cream stands) but there is a complete lack of vision for an area full of potential. If ELC had a clue, they might have:

• Spent the >£1 million they wasted revamping parking around Musselburgh Town Hall on retail and hospitality development along the picturesque Rover Esk between the Roman and Electricity bridges.
• Persuaded Transport Scotland to double frequency of ScotRail trains to Drem to provide hourly service to East Linton & Dunbar, continuing to Reston and Berwick.
• Provided serviced office complexes in eastern towns to service many professionals working out of second bedrooms or forced to commute to Edinburgh/Midlothian to find space for their growing businesses. These are NOT the same as roller-door industrial units.
• Tried to wake up sleepy Scottish Enterprise with clear plans for the Cockenzie brownfield site with a vision that might include a liner/ferry terminal, coastal promenade with retail, restaurants and a historic repro Tranent wagonway connecting to a Prestonpans Battlefield site, along the lines of Culloden’s.
• Approached Ryanair/Easyjet/Jet2 to reopen East Fortune as a budget airport for Edinburgh, using the hospital site ad former station facilities.
• Integrated public transport as a model for elsewhere: East Coast & Lothian Buses with ScotRail, using a single Oyster-style card and eliminate route duplication, using trains as a “backbone”. (c.f. any city in Europe).
• Persuaded Transport Scotland that an interchange station at Joppa Junction, together with quadrupling of track between there and Waverley would be a lot cheaper than quadrupling to Drem but would offer comparable easing of ECML capacity.

Whether the above are feasible is not the point. Not only have none been tried, but nothing remotely ambitious has been contemplated. ELC administration has been content to ca’ the haun’le and draw their salaries.

Which is a shame. In its quarter century of life, ELC has pocketed over £90 million in “Section 75” charges from developers to provide the necessary education facilities for those >17,000 new houses. To do so, they chose a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) scheme that cost £158 million to provide £58 million worth of facilities. 

Instead of that, they could have built the schools themselves, and still had £30 million in hand to fund pivotal projects—such as those suggested above.

Shame, really; the future for Edinburgh’s coastal Garden of Eden could have been so different.

#1086—1,160 words