Across the Lothian and Borders area, a total of 165 Local Geodiversity Sites have been designated in five Local Authority areas – West Lothian, City of Edinburgh, Midlothian, East Lothian and Scottish Borders.

These Local Geodiversity Sites are being added to the Scottish Geology Trust’s Geosites map; the map is still in development, and volunteers are encouraged to get involved in contributing more information about sites.

geosites.scottishgeologytrust.org

City of Edinburgh Council (30 sites)

City of Edinburgh Council has designated 30 Local Geodiversity Sites as Local Nature Conservation Sites, identifying each site in the Proposals Map associated with the 2016 Local Development Plan. A specific Environment Policy (Policy Env 15 Sites of Local Importance) within the Local Development Plan sets out the protection given to landscape and geological features of local importance.

The 30 sites are described in a separate section of this website, with site descriptions and photographs prepared by Oliver Buchanan in a project with the City of Edinburgh Council. This was the ‘Geoscience Outreach and Engagement’ module of Oliver’s final year BSc Geology course at the School of Geosciences at University of Edinburgh.

Edinburgh’s Local Geodiversity Sites leaflet.

West Lothian Council (51 sites)

West Lothian Council adopted the West Lothian Local Development Plan in September 2018. This includes an Environment Policy with a presumption against development affecting areas of regional or local natural heritage importance such as Local Biodiversity and Local Geodiversity Sites, or their settings. Supplementary Guidance on Green Networks is to be published including site boundaries and citations covering specific geological merit, socio-economic value and recommendations for retention and interpretation.

The 51 Local Geodiversity Sites are described in the geodiversity section of the West Lothian Council website, including a map showing the locations of the sites.

West Lothian Geodiversity Audit carried out by the British Geological Survey, 2006

East Lothian Council (30 sites)

East Lothian Council’s Local Development Plan (September 2018) fully integrates geodiversity and biodiversity within its Natural Heritage policies. As described in Technical Note 11: Planning for Geodiversity and appendices, sites designated in the 2015 Geodiversity Audit as Local Nature Conservation Sites are shown on the Proposals Map, with Geological Conservation Review sites (of national importance) given the same status as Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

East Lothian Geodiversity Audit carried out by the British Geological Survey, 2015

Scottish Borders Council (35 sites)

Volunteers Alison and Barry Tymon have carried out an extensive survey of the Scottish Borders Council area, visiting and photographing about 250 sites. More than half of those were fully surveyed. Scottish Borders Council have designated 35 sites to be included in the proposed Local Development Plan (Policy EP3).

Scottish Borders Council Local geodiversity technical note 2020 (Background document to the Proposed Local Development Plan)

Read more about the Local Geodiversity Sites in Scottish Borders, including 10 easily accessible sites

Midlothian Council (19 sites)

Volunteers Alison and Barry Tymon have carried out a survey of the Midlothian Council area, identifying 19 sites that were approved by the Lothian and Borders GeoConservation Committee in December 2022 for Midlothian Council to designate as Local Geodiversity Sites.

Read more about the Local Geodiversity Sites in Midlothian, including 7 easily accessible sites