Every morning with the Cockenzie Power Station chimneys in my sight, I always thought of them as a blot on the East Lothian landscape, but now I have woken up.

We only truly appreciate someone or something when they are gone. Time is running out: we are about to destroy our icon.

These are our twin towers. These represent a symbol of East Lothian’s mining industry.

They don’t smoke anymore, good symbology, but why not preserve them, and light them up like a miners’ lantern as a beacon to remember the men who gave their lives for the black diamonds – coal?

West Lothian has its sculptures, we have ours too, the chimneys. The next generation must run with the baton, yes, lie forrit to the future, but remember the past, not destroy it forever.

Please, people of East Lothian, look again before it is too late. Let’s have a community vote. Some things are irreplaceable. Granted, some might say they are just concrete monstrosities – I did – but they are more; they represent us, they say welcome home.

Mr Turnbull Tranent