Councillors considering Musselburgh Flood Protection Scheme at meeting

It is expected that they will then determine the next steps for the project, which has attracted calls from campaigners to "pause and review" the flood scheme.

Objectors to the scheme have raised concerns about what they describe as a “hard-engineering” design plan rather than one with more nature-based solutions.

A protest petition with nearly 4,000 signatures will be considered at the meeting.

A view from Roman Bridge, showing how the scheme might look, facing east towards Mall Avenue, showing the River Esk and amenity spaces. Visualisations of ‘Key Views’ in the town have been included within the Environmental Impact Assessment to show the evolved design of the Musselburgh Flood Protection scheme. These are not considered to be the final product as the design is not complete; however, they are presented to complement the design drawings and prompt further discussions on the proposals

Councillor Norman Hampshire, council leader, said: "The design of the flood protection scheme for Musselburgh has now concluded the outline design stage.

"A huge amount of work has been completed to develop the design and the councillors of East Lothian Council are now required to fully review and consider this design at council and determine whether we support, do not support or wish to pause the scheme."

The meeting, which started at 9.30am, can be watched online: Webcast library – East Lothian Council Webcasting (public-i.tv).

Councillors will be asked whether or not this outline design is now sufficiently developed to allow the design to advance to the formal consultation process required under the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009.

The view from Musselburgh beach, showing how the scheme might look, facing west along the coastline at Murdoch Green

Other projects being brought together for a joint delivery by the council under the umbrella of the flood protection scheme are: repair works to the existing ash lagoons seawall; and the parts of the proposed Musselburgh Active Travel footpath network that sit on the footprint of the scheme.

Together these constitute a combined investment of £132.5 million "to renew and enhance the historic, built environment in Musselburgh", said a council spokesperson.

The original flood protection scheme now constitutes £53 million of this investment, they added, with the Scottish Government contributing 80 per cent of the cost of the scheme.

Conor Price, senior project manager, said: "The project team have spent the last few years working hard to listen to the people of Musselburgh, and we hope this developed outline design will reflect many of the requests and aspirations that have come to us through our many consultation forums.

"We have provided 14 photomontage visualisations on the scheme website at musselburghfloodprotection.com to assist with understanding how this design will sit in the existing natural landscape.

"On behalf of the project team and the council, I would encourage anyone who wishes to fully understand this design to look at these images."