East Lothian

Updated on Nov 26, 2023

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Area 262 sq mi

Map of East Lothian

East Lothian (Scots: Aest Lowden, Scottish Gaelic: Lodainn an Ear), is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy area. For a time, it was also known as Haddingtonshire.

It borders the City of Edinburgh, Midlothian and the Scottish Borders. Its administrative centre is Haddington, although its largest town is Musselburgh. East Lothian is also the name of a registration county, which has different boundaries to the council area.

The council area was created in 1996, replacing the East Lothian district of the Lothian region. The district had been created in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, consisting of the old county of East Lothian plus the burgh of Musselburgh and the parish of Inveresk (which included Wallyford and Whitecraig) which until then had been in the county of Midlothian.

When abolished, for local government purposes, in 1975, the county of East Lothian bordered the county of Midlothian to the west, and Berwickshire to the south.

Local media

East Lothian is served by two local paid-for weekly newspapers, the East Lothian Courier and the East Lothian News. The former, known locally as The Courier, is the better-selling and started in 1859 as the Haddingtonshire Courier (the name was changed in 1971). The family firm of D. & J. Croal, based in Haddington, owned and operated the paper until it was bought by the Dunfermline Press Group in 2004. The East Lothian News was first published in 1971, as part of Scottish County Press group, with editorial offices in Dalkeith and printing at Bonnyrigg (both in Midlothian). SCP was acquired by Regional Independent Media in 2000, which was in turn bought by Johnston Press in 2002.

East Coast FM (Scotland) is a community radio station run by volunteers which has been broadcasting since 2009 from studios at 8 Market Street in Haddington. The station is registered as a charity (SC042784). An FM Community Radio Licence was awarded to the station in September 2012 by regulator OFCOM and a frequency of 107.6 FM was allocated in January 2013. It is expected that broadcasting on this frequency will start in March 2013. The station can be accessed worldwide across the internet through their website.

East Lothian FM is an Online Community Radio Station operated and managed by East Lothian Community Media Ltd. The station started webcasting to the county from their studio at 38 Market Street, Haddington in October 2011 and applied for a Community Radio Licence (on the FM band) during the application period that ended on 14 February 2012. The result of this application will be announced by Ofcom in due course.