Substation gets go ahead on old Cockenzie power site

Ministers have granted planning permission for a substation to be built on part of the former Cockenzie Power Station site.

Pic Lisa Ferguson 26/.09/2016 Cockenzie Power Station chimneys are demolished today Spectators gathered on the beaches and also on boats to to watch the chimneys come down

The site, which is owned by East Lothian Council and had been earmarked to deliver more than 3,000 jobs, has been at the centre of a battle between the community, the council and windfarm company Inch Cape.

Ministers called in the planning application from Inch Cape, which wants to bring energy from a planned offshore windfarm onshore at the site, before East Lothian Council had made any ruling.

The call-in was made while First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was visiting China where she met representatives of the Chinese state-owned Red Rock company, which owns Inch Cape.

Scottish ministers said they agreed with the Government reporter’s findings saying the substation was of “national importance”.

East Lothian Council and local communities had argued it would “sterilise” the site for future economic development. However, the reporter noted the substation would take up less than 10 per cent of the former power station site.