THE process of moving large bunds of earth surrounding the old coal handling plant, south-east of the former Cockenzie Power Station, is set to be completed by the end of the week.
Last 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.
Once work comes to an end, the temporary traffic lights on Edinburgh Road will be removed.
READ MORE: More than half of bund material moved from coal store site
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 12 years ago and its iconic chimneys were demolished in late 2015.
A spokesperson for East Lothian Council said: “All the bund material required to fill the void in the power station site will have been moved by the end of this week, which means there will be no more need for dump trucks to cross the Edinburgh Road between the former coal store and the power station site.
"This is significantly ahead of programme, largely due to the better-than-usual weather experienced in autumn and winter.
"Works will still be undertaken on the power station site to test the bearing capacities of the infilled and compacted material, install a temporary drainage system, fencing and cover the area.
"Works to the coal store will continue for the rest of 2025.”
READ MORE: £11.3m boost for Cockenzie Power Station site regeneration
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 this spring – 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.
Ben Morse, chair of Cockenzie and Port Seton Community Council, said: "The community council welcomes the completion ahead of schedule and, hopefully, reduced disruption this will bring to both our community and our neighbours in Prestonpans.
"We also thank Balfour Beatty and Graeme Marsden of East Lothian Council for their ongoing engagement with community feedback about the impact of the works.
"As the project progressed, we did see much of the community feedback acted upon.
"Clearly, the project had a problematic start and caused major concern within the community as a result of the community engagement/consultation being limited at best ahead of the Levelling Up deadline falling near the May 22 local elections.
"This most definitely led to a far less partnership-based approach especially in the early stages, than the community council would have expected/liked to see.
"We hope the lessons learned from that experience can improve the approach for the upcoming discussion over the Cockenzie site technical appraisal, which will be discussed at both our upcoming community council meeting on Tuesday at 6.45pm in the Port Seton Centre and a community drop-in event hosted by East Lothian Council and Stantec on the afternoon/evening of March 11 at the Pennypit Centre."
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