People were reduced to tears when they first saw the plans to put up high walls to protect their town, a public inquiry into a £103million flood protection scheme was told.
Protestors marched to the Scottish Government inquiry venue in Musselburgh this morning in a show of solidarity as they prepared to challenge East Lothian Council’s decision to approve the plans despite hundreds of objections.
The council decision sparked the inquiry, which will be held over the coming weeks by Scottish Ministers, into whether the Musselburgh Flood Protection Scheme (MFPS) can go forward, needs amended or should be scrapped.
During the first session of the inquiry, which was being held in Eskmills Venue, in the town, Scottish Government Reporter Paul Cackette heard claims from objectors that community engagement had not met the standards expected by residents in the town.
East Lothian Council’s legal team has employed James Findlay KC as counsel who led the responses from them to questions from Mr Cackette raised by objectors.
The council said it met its legislative duties when it came to community engagement but was accused by one residents of meeting “the letter of the law but not the spirit of the law”.
Concerns about the amount of information provided to residents, how accessible it was and the lack of alternative proposals were all raised in the first session.
One resident Melanie Gallagher told the hearing she had lived in the town for 13 years.
She said: “When I looked at the maps of what was proposed I was in tears when I saw what was going to happen, and a woman beside me was also in tears.”
She said people who attended an exhibition of the proposal were faced with a ‘useless’ questionnaire which assumed the scheme would be going ahead and only asked about any proposed modifications, while she described the visuals provided as ‘low quality’.
Other protestors said that when they went out in the town to gather signatures for a petition calling for a halt to the scheme many people were unaware of what the scheme involved suggesting it had not been communicated to the wider public.
One told the hearing: “It is important to recognise what we had to do as a community to inform people about what was going on. We have had to go out and engage with residents and we still do not believed we reached everybody.”
The hearing will go on all week and are described as scoping sessions, to inform the Reporter of areas where more detailed examination may be needed in full at later dates as the scheme, its support and objections are heard in full in the coming months.
By Marie Sharp Local Democracy Reporter
