Best-selling author: town tourism 'shame' must have happy ending
Sam Berkeley • Published 10 Feb 2011 09:26
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The exposed sewage pipe on West Beach is an eyesore
THE exposed sewage pipe blighting North Berwick's West Bay has "become the shame of one of Scotland's most precious coastal towns", a best-selling author has claimed.
Haddington-based writer Peter Kerr has called on East Lothian Council to sort out the problem pipe – connected to sewage works at nearby East Bay. Foreign visitors he had brought to the town last year were shocked by the state of the beach at West Bay.
The pipe has become more exposed due to coastal erosion and is an eyesore on the beach. Pools of water frequently collect behind it, worsening the problem, while sand and small rocks collect on top of it and are then blasted by the tide at the coastal wall – causing damage.
A meeting is to take place on February 24 between representatives of the council and pipe owners Scottish Water, with community council members also present.
And Mr Kerr, a frequent visitor to North Berwick who has written to East Lothian Council and the Scottish Government about the issue, has called for the groups to find a solution to the long-standing and much-debated problem – and not allow the town's tourist appeal to erode.
"It is hoped that this occasion will not turn out to be yet another platform for excuse-making and playing the blame game," said the author of 'Snowball Oranges', and the 'Bob Burns Investigates' series. "Those bucks have been passed too often and for too long between East Lothian Council and Scottish Water."
North Berwick Community Council has spoken to architects who have come up with a scheme which could cover the pipe. Mr Kerr urged the council not to ignore the group's efforts.
"It behoves East Lothian Council to engage with the community council to formulate a long-term and workable solution to build on," he said. "Stonewalling their suggestions will be both an insult to the community council's efforts and a blatant dereliction of East Lothian Council's duty."
And he hoped that the three North Berwick Coastal ward councillors would do their utmost "to ensure that this generation does not go down in history as the one that had neither the will nor the foresight to right a wrong that has become the shame of one of Scotland's most precious coastal towns".
Mr Kerr says he is furious with "the powers that be wasting time".
"My conclusion is that East Lothian Council is in a corner and are doing everything they can to creep further into it," he said.
Former Scottish Government Minister Stewart Stevenson MSP wrote to Mr Kerr in November to say it would be "unreasonable to expect Scottish Water to spend large amounts of money burying the pipe without strong legislative reasons."
The pipe issue was "purely aesthetic" and that any "beach management" was not the responsibility of Scottish Water, added the MSP.
Mr Stevenson's successor as Transport and Infrastructure Minister, Keith Brown MSP, confirmed to Mr Kerr last month that Scottish Ministers would not be making funds available to move/bury the pipe.
Mr Brown recommended that Mr Kerr's "concerns would be best addressed by East Lothian Council".
At last Tuesday's meeting of North Berwick Community Council, chair Pat Burton spoke of dark days for the town if nothing was done.
"I know we're very concerned about the state of play down at the beach and it's just getting worse all the time," she said. "There doesn't seem to have been any kind of resolution of this problem.
"[Community councillor] Bill MacNair and I were at the Resorting to the Coast conference recently and I'm sorry that at the end of it I had to inject a really sour note but it did get people's attention to say the West Beach has a big sewer on it which has been getting more exposed as the months go by."
Alhough the group had spoken to architects about covering the pipe, Mrs Burton said that nothing could be done until it was decided what money could be spent on such a project – potentially leaving the beach to deteriorate further.
"We can't do anything about it because the two parties involved, East Lothian Council and Scottish Water, haven't agreed what, if anything, they would be prepared to do about it," she said.
"The fact is, if nothing is done, I think our visitors eventually will disappear away just because it's not a beach I'd want to spend any time on."
Mr MacNair too was deeply concerned with the state of play – and particularly with comments made at a recent meeting about the lack of money seemingly available to sort out the problem.
"What I found a wee bit disturbing about the meeting was that [council chief executive] Alan Blackie categorically said that East Lothian Council will not spend a penny on that pipe," he said. "He says they're not allowed to because it's not their property."
Mr MacNair also highlighted the heavy erosion of the sea wall, with large holes appearing on it and becoming filled up with sand.
Ward councillor David Berry had told an earlier community council meeting that he had been trying to convince Scottish Water for years that the pipe was their problem.
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Paul
Unregistered User
Feb 20, 17:13
Report commentI was born and raised in North Berwick, this pipe was not there when I left 30 some years ago. I am curious to know if this design was a primary school project? Any engineer in Canada who proposed a project such as this they would lose their engineering license. Any future projects, please do not hesitate to call me.
Paul Anderson
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