LIKE many East Lothian residents, I was caught up without power in last week’s Storm Arwen.

It was a reminder of the need for community resilience plans when storms or other severe weather hits the county.

Many communities were stuck without power and faced a tough weekend making do and trying to stay warm. I would like to thank East Lothian Council, community groups and the many engineers who did their best to reconnect our villages and rural areas.

While their efforts were first class, there are still some lessons to be learned.

Perhaps one area of concern was the messaging on reconnection times. Some communities were told that their power was to be reconnected on Saturday afternoon, only to be told hours later it would then be Sunday or Monday before they would reconnected. This meant community resilience plans and council support did not immediately kick in. I spoke with ScottishPower on Tuesday and I hope that there will be more clarity should we face similar events in future.

Our vital local traders also lost some critical days trading and I asked in Parliament if they would be given further support. I will follow up with ministers about this, but it’s clear that it’s more important than ever that we support the Small Business Saturday campaign on Saturday.

I will be out in Tranent on Friday and visiting other businesses on Saturday to celebrate small businesses across East Lothian.

Small Business Saturday is a non-commercial campaign encouraging shoppers to support small businesses in their communities. Lockdown has been very challenging for our high streets, so in the run-up to Christmas it’s important we share a big ‘thank you’ to small firms in East Lothian who have played a vital role during the pandemic.