The right place. Why is Cockenzie The Right Place for 360 to call Home?
- look outwards at the marine environment – a key indicator of climate change;
- look downwards, under the earth itself, we find the legacy from our industrial past of coal mining – shafts which stretch out under the Forth, now being explored to provide much needed clean & green geo-thermal energy;
- look upwards to the sky, where the carbon we’ve released is warming our planet;
- look around the site, there’s the rich tradition of arts, culture and a coastline of innovation – murals, tapestries, artists, musicians and more.
On the Summer breeze and Winter wind, the whisper of our industrial heritage – which shaped the communities to the West of the County – resonates from every blade of grass and breaking wave, asking that it may have the opportunity to be the Hope for the Future. The belief that a much loved – yet historically poisonous and polluting site – could be home to a Vision for the future for generations to come, is what makes the post-industrial brownfield site of the old coal fired Cockenzie power station The Right Place.
No longer coal mining, coal shipping or coal burning, 360 at Cockenzie would be the herald to our County, Country and beyond that nationally, we are doing our bit to turn the tide on climate change. 360 would achieve this through education, training and skills development; fostering positive partnerships with educators and the renewable sector; by enhancing our land and sea environments through rewilding and respect; by job creation & employment opportunities. Every aspect of 360 would look to the future with climate welfare at its heart. Be in no doubt, Cockenzie is The Right Place.
It’s been a fairly busy 360 week, with a welcome email arriving from East Lothian Council – an invitation to meet ahead of the Council’s consideration of the 360 proposal at the end of June! This is something we’ve requested on many occasions over the past year+months and while the invite is very welcome, it’s also disappointing that it’s so last minute. But we remain grateful.
A further email arrived from our Consultants with the final documents included in the feasibility study – still to be gone through and agreed – and we had representation at the East Lothian Climate Action Network Gathering. It’s always great to meet with like-minded folk and we left feeling inspired, enthused and ever more determined.
Our application for Planning Permission in Principle (PPiP) remains with East Lothian Council. Unfortunately, to date, they’ve failed to register the application. It seems that ELCs interpretation of the requirements that accompany a PPiP are totally different to ours – even reading the PPiP legislation – it seems that ELC may be wrong. So the application sits. And we wait.
A great frustration remains the continual demand that Cockenzie must provide jobs, jobs, jobs. And yet – to date – we have 0 job creation and read in the Courier yesterday that an application for a huge battery storage facility on existing farmland within the site is about to be submitted. Guess how many jobs?
In closing, we’ve been reminded today of how a visionary idea put to a listening landowner can result in something magical. Arts & culture; 200 jobs with the possibility of 300 additional; contributing £27m to the economy; on a site smaller than the ask for 360 and with not a sea view in sight! If Falkirk can have Kelpies, Newcastle an Angel and an Eden in Dundee, we can have a 360 at Cockenzie – The Right Place.