Minutes of meeting of Dunpender Community Council
held on Thursday 7th May 2026 at 7.30pm in The Stables

Present: Mrs J Priest Mr H Thomas Mrs F Constable Ms A Pearson Mrs A Cosgrove Mrs L Shaw-Stewart

In attendance: Ms A Hunter (minutes), John Kinnaird, Peter Beckman, James Blair , Cllr D Collins, Verity Sinclair

1. Apologies: Mr R Russel, Mr D Wight, Cllr L Jardine

2. The minutes of the meeting held on 7th May were agreed.

3. Matters Arising & New Matters
3.1 Postholders and Year-End Accounts

Postholders for 2026/2027 were determined online prior to the meeting

Chair Mrs Priest Nominated Mr Thomas Seconded Mr Wight
Vice-Chair Mrs Cosgrove Nominated Mrs Priest Seconded Ms Pearson
Treasurer Mr Thomas Nominated Mr Wight Seconded Mrs Priest

Accounts: Mr Thomas was thanked for his work as treasurer. Mr Shaw-Stewart was thanked for ratifying the accounts. Mrs Cosgrove proposed acceptance of the accounts. Seconded by Mrs Constable.

3.2 Vacancies
Dr James Blair attended with a view to joining DCC. This leaves three vacancies.

3.3 Community Resilience Plan FC/HT – Hall Grant
Mr Thomas and Mrs Constable met with the hall committee with a view to determining whether the hall could be used as a resilience hub to support vulnerable residents in times of emergency. While that agreement is not yet in place a step towards it has been taken in terms of an application to the Tyne and Esk Rural Development Fund for funding to install a battery in the hall. This would charge on an off-peak tariff, supply power during power cuts and benefit the hall by reducing bills by an estimated £850pa. It also has the potential to integrate with future renewable energy initiatives such as solar panels or a heat pump. Analysis of bills revealed the hall has been overpaying on electricity and is currently substantially in credit. The hall deeds have now been tracked down.
Cllr Collins suggested storing dried foods in the hall to be used in emergencies and at end-date could be used in the community or donated to foodbanks. The challenge to this is lack of storage facilities.

3.4 Defibrillator grants
Ms Pearson has submitted a funding application to DELAP to cover devices in East Linton, Whitekirk, Tyninghame and Markle.

4. Report back from meetings attended
4.1 Fly tipping
Ms Pearson and Mrs Constable reported back on a meeting which confirmed that enforcement is not working due to a reduction in ELC staff numbers.
Suggestions were made of a government campaign to change the social and cultural mindset to make littering unacceptable. Concerns were raised about increases to the list of items that ELC will not pick up as part of their bulky waste collection and restrictions on vehicles at the tips e.g. trailers and vans where the assumption is that anyone with a pickup or similar is commercial not residential. Cllr Collins suggested anyone with a pickup who is planning to take residential rubbish to the tip contact her as well as the waste people so she can prove they are not commercial. Mrs Constable will request a recycling truck attend the Gala.

4.2 Keep Scotland Beautiful
Ms Pearson attended a meeting concerning the climate impact on the Forth river basin. Proposals such as the Tool Library/Repair Cafe have already been adopted in East Linton or in the case of resilience are being addressed.

5. Police Report / CAPP meeting
Between the 5th of May 2026 and the 3rd of June 2026 there were 43 calls to the area. This resulted in police recording 8 crimes:
Reducing Violence and Antisocial Behaviour
1 x Threatening and abusive behaviour
Reducing Acquisitive Crime (Crimes of Dishonesty)
1 x Theft by housebreaking
1 x Theft
Improving Road Safety
1 x Careless Driving
1 x Dangerous Driving
1 x Fail to Stop
2 x Drive with no insurance

At the CAPP meeting on the 9th of April 2026 the priority set was tackling youth anti-social behaviour.
Mr Beckman reported an unpleasant Bank Holiday weekend with groups of 30-40 individuals who were noisy, intimidating and left lots of rubbish. On 29th May two groups totalling 30 individuals who had caused trouble previously arrived after school. They were drinking and at 3.30pm individuals masked up and rang his doorbell. He has CCTV footage of this having installed 4 cameras around the house. Trees were also damaged. He called 101 but no one was available to attend. He expressed his concern about the impact on family members with health issues and the family being unable to use their garden. He also expressed disappointment that there has been no sign of police patrols and he has had no response from the community police officer Diane Bath. He raised the latest figures of people drowning in open water and the fact that swimmers are being put in danger by people throwing stones at them.
Cllr Collins confirmed Diane Bath has been on holiday and that with 6-8 officers covering East Lothian manpower is limited.
Fears were raised that summer will be worse and frustration that previous suggestions of designating the area under the Dispersal of Groups section of the Antisocial Behaviour etc (Scotland) Act 2004 has not been accepted. DCC are supportive of this.
These issues will be raised in an online meeting with Paul McLennan on 8th June prior to the CAPP meeting on 11th June.

6. Area Partnerships
Mrs Cosgrove reported that DELAP Scrutiny group will consider funding application on 10th June with funding to be allocated at a meeting on 29th . Ms Pearson, Mrs Constable, Mrs Shaw-Stewart will attend the funding meeting.

7. Finance
7.1 Grant applications
Ms Pearson confirmed the picnic tables have been delivered and will be installed once the Countryside Rangers and ELC amenities team have availability. She also attended an open day at BeGreen who provided 50% of the funding for the picnic tables.

8. Planning / Licensing / Consultations
ELCAN are seeking responses to their Biodiversity and Development policy to identify developments which have given rise to problems with biodiversity.
Mrs Constable raised the application for an Anaerobic Digester which is to be determined in the near future by ELC. Cllr Collins confirmed this could be called in if required.

9. East Linton/Preston
9.1 Stewart Milne Wall
Ms Pearson reported that there is insufficient stone on site to make a full repair to the large hole. Suggestions have been put forward to build up the edges of the remaining sides then erect a fence to cover the gap with a hedge planted on the development side. There is no Residents’ Association or factor in place. The area used to store building supplies will be left until work on the pathways is complete - estimated as September.

9.2 Benches
Mr Russel has painted benches at the end of Preston Road. Mr Craighead has volunteered to paint the benches opposite the hall.

9.3 Information Boards
Mr Russel has painted the stands for the boards on Dunbar Road.

9.4 Hall Bus Shelter
Mrs Priest has sent pictures to ELC who will visit with a view to installing a new shelter.

9.5 Preston Road wall
Mr Russel is liaising with ELC on this repair which will require the road to be closed.

9.6 Markle path
A Markle resident contacted ELC who have removed vegetation comprising nettles, white dead nettle and other ‘weeds’ which provided habitat and food for bees and butterflies.

9.7 Rennie Place Play Park
A resident of Rennie Place contacted DCC with concerns about the play equipment which is old and potentially unsafe. Residents of Rennie Place are jointly liable for injury resulting in use of the play park but there is no insurance in place due to there being no Residents’ Association. Dr Blair and Mr Thomas will contact the resident to offer support to set up such a body. Residents would pay to cover insurance and factoring cost to maintain the park in some form. Ms Pearson will investigate whether Parks4Life could assist.

10. Tyninghame /Whitekirk
10.1 Tyninghame
No update.
10.2 Whitekirk
Mrs Constable has checked the defibrillator and tidied the noticeboard.

11. Traprain/Markle/Whittingehame
11.1Markle.
It was reported that tree planting related to the bridge development is not complete. Concerns have been raised that verges have been cut by Balfour Beatty and wildflowers planted as part of the development and by residents to support biodiversity have been lost.

11.2 Whittingehame
Mrs Constable expressed the upset of residents over verge cutting by Papple Steading. The depth and length are both of concern along with the loss of biodiversity due to cutting at this time of year. Their preference is for ELC to perform this task as their policy is preferable and they carry the appropriate insurance.

11.3 Traprain
No date is available for installation of the bus stop at Overhailes but the bus will stop on request.

12. Projects
12 .1 Gala Stall 1-4pm 13th June
DCC will attend with a stall. Mr Thomas will provide set up details.

Any Other Business
Dr Blair attended a meeting of the East Lothian Integration Joint Board.
A request to remove football nets in the park has been rejected in favour of childrens’ play.
Mrs Cosgrove reported on a RAGES meeting attended by Peter Forsyth concerning a station at Haddington. Transport Scotland are not supportive as their opinion is the abstraction will not be from car to rail but from bus to rail. Discussion confirmed Haddington seems a good location for a station given the expanded population. Paul McLennan is setting up a Rail Forum with representatives from ELC, RAGES and rail bodies. The importance of having terms of reference and expected outcomes was communicated.

Date of next meeting: Thursday 3rd September 2026 at 7.30pm