The sheer length of your reporter Avril Campbell’s latest report on The Brunton suggests that East Lothian Council have a guilty conscience.
Even the good news is either muted or, like the action being taken elsewhere to deal with RAAC [reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete], ignored.
The promise to record the building is no longer an undertaking given to Historic Environment Scotland (HES) but a vague aspiration.
In other words, the generosity of an earlier generation can be forgotten.
The ruling against demolition without planning approval for an alternative building is hinted at rather than required. In other words, a town well used to living with derelict sites can be put through the experience again.
National policies encouraging sustainability, with repurposing rather than demolition, are ignored. So is HES’s advice that the Brunton merits B Listing.
Saddest of all, the commitment to providing a replacement theatre has become ritualistic. The real message is blindingly obvious. The present council cannot bind its successors and probably won’t. Goodbye to an archi- tecturally important building which has proved its worth. Hello to a culture of muddle.
East Lothian Council should swallow its pride and admit that the decision to demolish The Brunton is flawed. On their own figures, it will be far more economical to repurpose the existing building. They know that is what the public wants.
East Lothian Cases Panel
The Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland
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