Your Town. Your Choice. Join us in asking East Lothian Council to pause the Musselburgh Flood Protection Scheme
Want some background? Start here: Musselburgh Flood Protection Scheme – introduction (7-minute read)
or with this article in The National: Musselburgh flood defence scheme could be scrapped after backlash
Prefer videos? Visit the Resources page
Pause The Flood Scheme are a group of local residents who are concerned about the proposed flood protection plans and seek an alternative nature-based solution.
- We support an effective and robust flood protection scheme
- The proposed scheme is the most objected-to flood scheme in Scotland, with 3000+ objectors
- We are campaigning for a better, more sustainable and more democratic process
- The proposed scheme destroys historic and natural environments along our river and coast
- It has been developed with no transparency, independent scrutiny or alternatives
- Lack of meaningful community engagement and effective consultation process with the town
- Out-of-control costs and questionable value for money
Proposed cost: The cost of the scheme has ballooned to £132m in total, including £53m for the flood protection element. Note that it began in 2016 as an £8.9m scheme. Note also that there are no cost breakdowns in the public domain and that the Council has been told costs are likely to rise. How can the Council have voted this through with so little information? Why has no cap been put on the cost?
Ongoing costs: To date over £4m has already been spent on design and consultation fees, yet East Lothian Council is facing a funding gap of £45 million, with decreasing spending on core Council services. Additionally, we are told the Brunton Hall needs demolished. If so, it needs replaced, and not sold to developers as land to pay off debt the council has got itself into.
Future costs: The Scottish Government and COSLA working group on flooding has recognised the model of uncapped funding (known as Cycle 1) allows project consultants and developers to expand flood schemes into much larger, and more costly projects. The escalating costs and scope of this project should be scrutinised and capped to prevent further inflation.
What is being proposed?
Please scroll sideways through the images below, which demonstrate what the Outline Design, as voted through by the council in January 2024, might look like.
Images illustrating what the proposed flood defences in Musselburgh will look like, with wall height figures based on those of the Outline Design, presented at the June 2023 Public Exhibition at Eskmills. Share a video of these images.
See the ‘Outline Design’ plans for yourself at the project website, as exhibited for two days in June 2023 at Eskmills.
Why pause the scheme?
We accept that a flood prevention scheme is necessary … but … the scheme that the council is proposing is unsightly, outdated, unfriendly to the environment and crucially, far exceeds the needs for our town.
The Musselburgh Pause the Flood Scheme group aims to:
- Pause the flood scheme
- Explore nature-based solutions upstream in Midlothian
- Protect our town for future generations
We’ve worked with geoscience experts who have told us that there’s still time to explore other options.
This is an opportunity for Musselburgh to become a leading example of a town using nature-based solutions to protect its residents from future flooding.
What can I do?
Sign our petition
Get our voices heard
- We’re asking East Lothian Council to press pause on the scheme and work with geoscientists to explore other nature-based solutions.
Email your councillor
Give them your views
- The council appear keen to push the scheme through. Join us in asking them to release their research into nature-based solutions and give a democratic voice to Musselburgh residents.
Lend us your time
Help make a difference
- We’re always looking for volunteers to raise awareness in a positive, responsible way. If this sounds like you, we invite you to join our growing group of friendly volunteers.
Donate
Help fund our activity
- We’re all volunteers who live in Musselburgh. All donations will be used to produce our printed flyers and posters etc
Put a poster in your window – If we can show there’s appetite to pause the scheme, the council are more likely to reconsider. Download our poster to print out and display in your window to show your concern and spread the word.
Want some more background? Start here: Musselburgh Flood Protection Scheme – introduction (7-minute read)