More than half of bund material moved from coal store site

The large bunds surrounding the old coal handling plant, located to the south-east of the former power station, are being removed.

In October, trucks started transporting the bund material to infill the void in the main power station site, to make it more suitable for future development.

The coal handling plant – also known as the coal store – used to supply the power station with coal via a giant conveyor belt. The power station closed almost 12 years ago and it was demolished in late 2015.

A spokesperson for East Lothian Council, which owns the land, said: “Due to better-than-normal weather over the autumn, Balfour Beatty and their contractors have been able transfer over half of the earthwork bund material required from the coal store and compacted it into the former power station site. This was significantly ahead of the forecast progress for end December.

READ MORE: £11.3m boost for Cockenzie site regeneration

“If fair weather continues, it is predicted that this stage of the works will be completed in spring 2025 and no more trucks will be required to cross Edinburgh Road after then, with wider works to the coal store continuing until the end of 2025. When completed, this will create a level area for future development on both the former power station site and the former coal store.

“Works are also under way on laying the base layer of the new link road connecting Alder Road with Edinburgh Road, which is expected to be completed in autumn 2025.”

The 37-hectare power station site was bought by the council from ScottishPower in 2018 to help create jobs in the county. To date, the only proposals approved on the site have been for two substations to bring energy onto land from offshore windfarms and a battery storage facility.

In January 2023, it was announced that the council would receive £11.3m from the UK Government’s Levelling Up Fund to help regenerate the former power station site.

Phase one involves using 175,000 cubic metres of material – mainly gravel, sand and clay – that made up the bunds surrounding the former coal store to infill the void where the power station was situated.

Phase two of the works – estimated to start in Spring 2025 – will involve the demolition of concrete structures within the coal store and the material retained for future construction use. Remaining bund material will be used to regrade the coal store site, essentially making a level platform to allow for future development.

READ MORE: Removal of former coal store bunds approved

Ben Morse, chair of Cockenzie and Port Seton Community Council, said: “The community council welcomes the news that this work is ahead of schedule and progressing well, which will limit the length of disruption to our community.

“We also appreciate how open Balfour Beatty have been with community engagement and maintaining a dialogue with the community.

“That said, we do have concerns about the level of response thus far observed to much of the community feedback received e.g. around taking ownership of dust pollution and muck left on roads, and the operation of the traffic lights outside working hours. We will maintain our dialogue with both Balfour Beatty and East Lothian Council into the new year.

“Maintaining this dialogue is an effort for our members and co-opted members (all volunteers) and, with four community councillor vacancies and an office (vice-chair) currently empty, it is hard work, particularly when we are not always seeing response from the other side, leading to increased frustration within the community.

“We hope to fill our vacancies to be able to better engage with this activity following our January 7 meeting and any interested members of the community are invited to contact the community council to express their interest. We remain disappointed in the lack of community consultation undertaken ahead of these works by East Lothian Council, in particular during the Levelling Up application phase.”