Always being under a 10-minute walk from a chip shop keeps East Lothian atop the quality of life index.

Here in Prestonpans we now have four busy deep fat fryers, alongside five Chinese takeaways and two Indian takeaways.

On a still night, you can traverse the entire High Street without leaving the cloud of monosodium glutamate behind.

The Pans stands not alone; there are hands busy juggling piping-hot polystyrene trays in every corner of our county.

Keen to promote this dietary diversity, East Lothian Council is suitably passionate about allowing the opening of little chippie van sites all along the coastline.

The zest of vinegar and brown sauce must now complement the sea air as every walker rests.

Prestonpans eagerly awaits two further mini-chippies: one disguised as a bus (how exciting), while the other will greet every seal-spotter at the Musselburgh Lagoons with a tactical bacon roll.

We should, of course, be thankful we won’t suffer North Berwick’s fate, where fryers wrapped in shipping containers are de rigueur.

The great chippiefication of East Lothian does, though, extend to McDonald’s.

You can salt and sauce up our shoreline but you’ll never plank your capitalist burgers in Musselburgh town centre. We don’t care if you do have one of the best young adult training courses in the UK.

See us? We’re principled. Our coast may be toast but at least our town centres are shorn of life and jobs.

When it comes to economic development, back to front is the new black in East Lothian. Council officials are desperate to ‘re-wild’ our brownfield sites and industrialise our countryside.

Remember the 3,000-plus jobs we were all promised on the Cockenzie Power Station site? Well, with the arrival of the new chicken coop, a dozen eggs are now available instead.

At least the black pudding doublers from the new chippie vans are sustainably sourced. Pity local workers can’t taste any of the promised employment opportunities.

Calum Miller

Prestonpans