Esk River Improvement Group Meeting Minutes of Meeting – 10am, Monday 17th February 2025, Microsoft Teams

Attendance: Colin Beattie MSP, Rob Munn (MSP Office), Jenny Gray (MSP Office), Steven Boon (Scottish Water), Matt Bingham (Scottish Water), Ann Stewart-Kmicha (Dalkeith & District Community Council), Barbara Mackie (Eskbank Newbattle Community Council), Rachael Langfield (Mining Remediation Authority), John Batty (Mining Remediation Authority), Peter Finnie (SEPA), Paul Butler (SEPA), Rob Mitchell (SEPA), Conor Price (Musselburgh Flood Protection Scheme), Rachel Warrington (Musselburgh Flood Protection Scheme), Rebecca Lewis (Riverfly on the Esk/Buglife), Ross Hughes (Forth River Trust), Edel Ryan (Midlothian Council), Alan Heatley (Midlothian Council), Jen Newcombe (East Lothian Council), Kristian Purchase (East Lothian Council), Roddy Henry (Newbattle Abbey College).
Apologies: Rory Sandison (NatureScot), Scott Fraser (Scottish Water), Roger Croft (Esk Valley Trust), Anne Hyatt (Roslin and Bilston Community Council), Shona Grant (East Lothian Council), Katrina Wilson (SEPA), David Ogilvie (SEPA), Wayne Clark (Midlothian Council) Joy Godfrey (Esk & Newbattle CC).
 

Welcome
CB welcomed everyone to the meeting. The previous minutes were approved.
Scottish Water – Steven Boon
SB updated on,

• Lord Ancrum wood project update going out
• Esk pumping station will be completed this year
• Storm Eowyn update that SW prioritised keeping wastewater treatment operational
• The event duration monitor installation continues and 1.5k are now in place and are live on the system and teams will react to those as overflow events occur and issues are escalated if there is a bigger issue. The information is available on the SW website

CB asked about the Ironmills CSO which had been overflowing
SB can’t update but can come back after the meeting
RH It has overflowed since 2023 and has been reported – there is a sheared off length of overflow pipe – is there a better way of reporting more detail opposed to a CSO discharging?
SB I can see that a team have been out regarding the broken outfall pipe so I’ll check and report back.
 
Coal Authority (Mining Remediation Authority) – Rachael Langfield John Batty
RL Updated that the organisation has changed its name to the Mining Remediation Authority. This is because a lot of work we do now has increased focus on remediating coal but also metal mines. We are still waiting for approval for the Dalkeith Water Treatment Works which has taken longer than we hoped for due to spending reviews. Expecting to hear in the next couple of weeks. Design work progressing.
JB gave a slide presentation on the plans explaining the need to fully identify the adit and to identify and fill any voids with grout He described how they plan to manage the ochre slop at the bottom of the chamber removing that for disposal to minimise any getting into the river. They have been working with SEPA on methodology to alleviate any discharges to the river but can’t rule out some discolouration of the river while this work is ongoing. Will use vacuums to suck out the dense deposits with this taken away by tanker.
There will be a newsletter to inform locals what is happening and have a media strategy in place to deal with any interest.
CB Asked about the use if sonar or similar to assess how the adit is configured and whether the residual discolouration is new?
JB The adit from the river falls back toward the mine workings. We estimate its’s 15-20 metres deep so it’s too deep for radar to pick up we can pick up 5-6 metres but this is deeper and the adit seems to shelve off sharply. On the discolouration – this will occur during the preparations for construction but once construction is completed, there will not be discolouration. 
RH asked about the impact on sediment in the river and on breeding fish as this is time for spawning fish.
JB Impact on the riverbed should be minimal as higher flows should carry the ochre through and we are not expecting any degree of settlement, just discolouration.
ASK Regarding the funding have you been in touch with the local MP Kirsty McNeill? And thank you for forewarning the community.
RL We haven’t contacted the local MP about the funding as we are expecting positive news, just waiting on the final signature.
RH Where is the best place to get updates on the projecting including costings and changes over the period the project has been planned.
RL A summary could be pulled together from the business case and can share with you and the wider group.
RH that would be useful for the final reports for my project.
CB offered to circulate that summary and the slides about the project to the group    
 
 
SEPA
PF There is nothing specific to ERIG to report at this meeting
 
East Lothian Council
Jen Newcombe (Biodiversity Officer) and Kristian Purchase (Countryside Ranger)
KP updated on the work on dealing with invasive vegetation mainly Himalayan Balsam with regular Friday sessions along the Esk. Outlined the bacterial testing between April and October. Work around storm Eowyn to remove fallen trees along the Esk path. Supporting beach cleans at Fisherrow. Working with the public to give space for feeding shore birds to minimise disturbance of these birds. Liaison with Police Scotland’s wildlife crime officer regarding shellfish collection at the mouth of the Esk. Also supporting oyster reintroduction.
Midlothian Council
ER My colleague Alan Heatley is going to give you an update.
AH Updated on flood risk response. MLC have appointed a consultant to help navigate the obligations of the Flood Risk Management Act. MLC are recruiting a permanent flood officer who will take that work forward. We are aware of any fluvial flood risk from the Esk that causes concern. We have had questions about flood protection schemes and can confirm MLC are not considering any flood protection schemes on the Esk at present.
CB asked about high-risk areas such as Lasswade.
AH Last serious flood there was in 2000. Do get debris collection at the bridge which is cleared quickly to reduce flood risk. Have been approached by East Lothian about putting a water level monitor at the bridge, that would be something we could monitor on a regular basis.  Once we have the flood study completed, we’ll have a better picture of what prevention measures are required. Another area would be the Newbattle Bridge on the South Esk where there can be an issue of debris build-up at the old bridge, again this is monitored to prevent build-up.   
CB opened for questions.
RH Asked if there had been contact with Andrew Tabas and Dr Ian Patterson from Heriot Watt University?
AH haven’t had any dealings with them but aware they are working on a project
RH They are working on community involvement, community capacity, citizen science, surveying floods, flood risk etc. Opportunities to partner and learn from their work.
Forth River Trust
RH Updated the meeting that he was now in the last 3 months of the Citizen Esk project delivery. A final report will be written. Currently delivering a seasonal project called Fish in the Classroom delivering trout eggs to schools. The Citizen Esk project has developed from a point where people didn’t know much to people now having specific knowledge and understanding. Looking for opportunities for legacy projects and engaging with other agencies delivering community involvement. Will be attending the Green Futures Festival in Musselburgh (QMU) on 22nd March.
We’ve got litter picking days tying in with Scotland’s Beautiful.
The new Esk River Partnership will bring together a number of groups and organisations to decide how to manage the river together. 
CB Thanked Ross for his input to ERIG and hoped we’d still see him in some guise or other
Riverfly on the Esk/Buglife
RL The project has carried out 270 surveys from the monitoring sites on the ESK and are in the 6th year of Riverfly and out Esk science project and each year we get more volunteers. We’ve got eight new volunteers going through training this year. We monitor the Esk looking for freshwater macro invertebrates and enter this data into an open-source database which is available to everybody. We also do nitrate and water testing as part of that citizen science project. Carry out benchmarking of full species level assessment of the site. It’s a good way of looking further into the pressures that are on our rivers. The results were presented to the Scottish Freshwater Group and will be written up into a paper which we can share with you. That amounts to 1260 hours of volunteer time. Each survey takes about a couple of hours, and we carried out training about looking at species level data from macro invertebrates.
I now work for BugLife as Scotland & Ireland manager and as part of a wider project River Fly on the Esk was a really successful pilot in Scotland. We’re now delivering this as part of a project called Guardians of a River across Scotland. We’re now delivering River Woods a large-scale project across Scotland looking at whole river catchments and we are one of the delivery partners and have flagged up the Midlothian Esk as one of the rivers to work on and hope to update you at the next meeting. We’re looking to do habitat monitoring to add to both the biological and chemical monitoring. We currently have 40 volunteer groups and scientists across Scotland monitoring the health of the rivers. We are presenting our results at an international conference in Holland as well as Liverpool.
We appreciate all of the support we’ve had from SEPA recently working in partnership with them to develop this programme.
I’m currently doing a PhD at St Andrews University, and I am going to be writing up a lot of this data into a report and will be able to share that with the group.
CB commented that Rebecca had been very busy. There were no questions.
Musselburgh Flood Protection Scheme – Conor Price
CP gave a high-level update on the project. Review of the correspondence in response to the formal consultation on the scheme in spring 2024. ELC invited each of the 470 objectors to an individual meeting. Invites went out in Sept/October with a deadline to take up the invite of end of October. Just less than 100 people responded. From November on Legal Services have been meeting with each individual. That process is ongoing through February. Legal services and the project team have been writing up those sessions before proceeding to a meeting of the Council. Expecting that a meeting will consider the scheme before the summer recess. As it is in this legal process at present there is little more, I can report.
CB Asked about the funding and whether the project team were satisfied it would go ahead.
CP When the scheme was first published the cost was determined to be £106m. The Scottish Government’s flood programme had committed 80% of that with East Lothian committing 20%. What will be the final cost be? The scheme cost was based on the design then developed. The process of objections could lead to modification of the scheme and almost certainly a public local inquiry which would have an unknown timescale of perhaps 2 years. Until the design is settled and legally approved, we don’t know definitively what the cost will be and that will have to be determined at the end of the process and include inflation.
AOCB
ASK raised the Esk weir removal scheme. It’s been delayed a bit due to the two that are on the North Esk to check what will happen with the viaduct. On the South Esk they’re waiting to find out what happens about the weir at Lothian Bridge as that would affect the one further down at Dalkeith New Mills Road.
 
Summary of Actions to be updated
Scottish Water

• Ironmills outfall pipe repair update

Coal Authority

• Provide an update on ministerial approval
• Summary of the Dalkeith Waste Water Treatment Works project
• Share slides of presentation with group members (RM to action)