A PETITION calling on the Scottish Government to abandon controversial plans for a massive marine energy park at Cockenzie Power Station has been signed by more than 1,000 people in under a week.

The petition, lodged on behalf of the Coastal Regeneration Alliance, went online last week after it was accepted by the Scottish Parliament as valid.

It already has the support of East Lothian MSP Iain Gray, who attended the most recent meeting of the alliance, and pledged to do all he could to ensure it was brought before Holyrood.

In its summary, the petition says it is “calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to abandon the proposal for the development of an Energy Park at Cockenzie, and ensure that any future proposals are subject to full public consultation and do not extend beyond the existing footprint of the former power station”.

The alliance has said the inclusion of the large-scale development proposal for Cockenzie in the Scottish Government’s National Planning Framework may not even be legal, because it was not mentioned when the NPF draft went to public consultation.

They insist it should be dropped as people were not given a chance to comment on it before it was added.

The marine energy park proposals sent shockwaves through the communities of Cockenzie and Port Seton and Prestonpans when they were first revealed by the Courier in May.

Among the proposals are plans to build factories to build and repair wind turbines for the offshore windfarm industry, and create a deep-water quay to allow barges to come in and take the giant turbines out to sea.

The quay could see over 11 hectares of land reclaimed, causing concern it would devastate the local fishing industry and have a huge impact on local wildlife.

There are also plans to run the quayside of the industrial park 24 hours a day, seven days a week, realign the road passing the site of the former power station and move the John Muir Way.

The alliance was set up to give people in the communities a chance to have their say on the plans and has seen up to 800 people turning up at its meetings.

Concerns about the scale of the project and fears it will separate the two communities with an “industrial compound” have been raised by the alliance.

The petition is open for signing online until November 5 and can be found at scottish.parliament.uk/GettingInvolved/Petitions/keepourcoast