"AMBITIOUS" plans to create a national climate change centre at the site of the former Cockenzie Power Station could cost £29.5 million to develop, a new report has revealed.

A feasibility study into the Cockenzie 360 Centre, which has been put forward by a community group, has described it as "relevant" and found that it could bring benefits to the community.

However, it warns that it will need to be created in partnership with East Lothian Council, the Scottish Government and the renewables industry.

The grassroots vision for the 360 Centre includes a climate change centre and giant fisherwoman statues, which are compared in the report to the Kelpies and the Angel of the North in their potential impact.

In 2021, East Lothian Council gave the group up to £30,000 to fund a study into the project's feasibility.

READ MORE: Plans for 360 Centre at former Cockenzie Power Station site

Its findings have now been published on the council's website and reveal that funding was also provided by offshore windfarm companies  Inch Cape and Seagreen, who plan to bring energy onshore at the site in the future.

In the report, the consultants say that the project faces financial risks given the current market and lack of public funding available, and will rely on partners in the renewables industry to give additional support.

They say: "The site is in the ownership of East Lothian Council. The council was successful in a bid to the Levelling Up Fund and has been granted £11.3m for development costs for site remediation.

"High-level development costs for the National Centre for Climate Change are estimated to be in the region of £29.5 million."

They go on to point out that the Scottish Government has announced emergency budget reviews in the last year, adding: "The available capital budgets of the Scottish Government and local authorities, key sources of grant funding, will be squeezed.

"It is important to highlight that the project is based upon partnership working with a range of organisations, including the renewables sector, which is likely to continue to show positive growth in the immediate future."

'A range of key benefits'

Despite concerns about funding, the consultants say that the project offers benefits to the community and is an "ambitious" vision at the centre of future concern.

They say: "There are market challenges and potential competition. However, it is becoming increasingly clear across the world that the climate emergency is one of the most important and growing issues we are facing as a society.

"Both the history of the site use and its location by the sea are relevant to the climate change emergency.

"The development of a National Centre for Climate Change on this site would help to deliver a range of key benefits: locally – employment opportunities and the creation of a community space on a unique and important coastal location; nationally – a visitor experience which would draw in visitors from around the UK; and internationally – a focal point for matters related to the climate emergency."

And they say that the public art proposed for the site could be a welcome addition, saying: "Both the Kelpies and Angel of the North have been reviewed as nationally important, transformative and regenerative pieces of public artwork.

"The 360 public artwork would be comparable but its direct link to the theme of climate change would be an important aspect of the art.

"The proposed statues would also link back to the two former chimneys which were iconic aspects of the old Cockenzie Power Station which had been recognised as a marker of place for over 50 years."

A report on the next steps for the project is expected to be presented to councillors at a meeting later this month.