Further Developments at Cockenzie

As we’ve mentioned previously on our blog, the future looks bright for the offshore renewables industry, which is expected to play a crucial role in Scotland’s energy mix in years to come. With this in mind, Scottish Enterprise is seriously looking at plans for the development of an Energy Park at Cockenzie. They believe that the site would be the perfect location for companies involved in the offshore wind supply chain.

The idea has been on the cards for some time now, since the announcement of the National Renewables Infrastructure Plan (N-RIP) and the National Renewables Infrastructure Fund (N-RIF) in 2010.

Cockenzie is seen as an ideal location for many reasons, including its location close to major offshore wind sites, its history and potential for deep water berthing. In the long term, it’s also seen a good place for investment into jobs and economic development, with potential for further development in the future.

The project

Experts think developing an Energy Park at Cockenzie will help to establish Scotland as a European hub for the offshore wind industry.

The main plans for the site include:
• New marine infrastructure
• A new quayside
• Serviced plots and associated infrastructure
• Aggregate extraction.

At the moment there’s no timescale for the plan, as so many aspects of it are yet to be agreed, and the planning consents needed to take the project further haven’t been obtained. The Energy Park could accommodate a wide range of end-users, and because they haven’t yet been identified, plans for the development have to stay very flexible.

The proposed development requires a number of consents before it can go ahead;
• Application for Planning Permission in Principle
• Application for Marine Licence (under the Marine Works
• Application for Harbour Empowerment Order.
(A Proposal of Application Notice, relating to the application for Planning Permission in Principle, was submitted to East Lothian Council on 2 June 2014.)

Consultations

If you want to have your say on the proposals, or just want to know what’s going on, there are consultation events at every stage of the development.The first consultation events have already been held - on 16 June 2014 in Prestonpans Library and 18 June 2014 in Port Seton Community Centre. There will be a second round of consultation events in early 2015, before the planning applications are made. At these events, anyone interested will be given information about how to view the formal documents.

After the applications have been submitted there will be another round of consultations and ongoing consultations will happen at milestones in the development process.

We’ll keep you up to date with any developments as the news comes through.

The Forth Crossings

With the construction of the new Queensferry Crossing due to be completed in 2016, we thought it would be a good time to take a look at the history of the Forth crossings – and look at how things are coming along for the newest stage in that history.

There was great news at the beginning of October – the cost of building the crossing is going to be a hefty £50m lower than previously thought. How often does that happen? The revised budget has been reduced to a top limit of £1.4bn from the previous £1.45bn, according to Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on her recent site visit. Ms Sturgeon said that the progress made since construction started in June 2011 meat that there would be £195m worth of savings, and she praised the “sound management and delivery of the scheme.”

The crossing will be the centre piece of a major upgrade to the cross-Forth transport corridor. It will be 1.7 miles across, making it the longest three-tower, cable-stayed bridge in the world. The current Forth Bridge celebrated its 50th were seen off in style with a ‘river of fire’ made up of 2,014 torchbearers and a stunning firework display. The Forth Bridges Festival was a ten-day festival which also commemorated three centuries of world-class bridge engineering on the Forth.

History of the Bridge

The Firth of Forth was first bridged in 1890, but research didn’t begin on a road bridge until 1929. At the time, a tunnel was mooted as an option too. It wasn’t until 1958 that the green light was given for the Forth Bridge as we know it now, and construction started in 1960. People flocked to see the bridge while it was under construction in the early sixties. It was opened by HRH Queen Elizabeth on 4th September 1964 to a 21 gun salute, and 16,000 people attended the opening ceremony (not including all the members of the public who turned out.)

It was the fourth longest suspension bridge for 78 days, until the opening of New York’s Verrazano Narrows Bridge on 21 November knocked it back down a place. During the 1990s repairs were needed – due to the increasing volume and weight of traffic over the bridge, the structure had to be strengthened, and there were problems with corrosion and repairs needed to the cables.

In March 2001 the Forth Road Bridge was designated a Category A listed structure.Plans for a new crossing were made public in 2007, and construction started on the new crossing in 2011.