Cuts to services are inevitable unless the Scottish Government provides the West Lothian Council with adequate levels of funding, warned its leader this week.
Drastic measures will be needed to plug an almost £50,000 million black hole in the council’s budget.
The council will shortly be launching a public consultation on a range of budget reduction measures that will reduce spending and alter local services.
Over the past 16 years West Lothian Council has had to make savings of nearly £151 million due to insufficient levels of grant funding, he said. The Scottish Government provides the council with over 80 per cent of its income.
Many changes to services have already been put in place but the council now face a further budget gap of £47.1 million between 2023 and 2028.
The budget gap is caused by increasing costs and a rising population combined with insufficient levels of grant funding from the Scottish Government.
The measures featured in the consultation have been developed by senior council officers.
Councillors will have a chance to consider public feedback and make a final decision on the measures in early 2023, when the budget for 2023/24 is set and the Council Tax level is agreed.
The Leader of West Lothian Council added that the council will seek to protect the most vulnerable people, but that changes to existing services are inevitable given the scale of the financial pressures being faced.
He has written to the Depute First Minister, who is also the Scottish Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Economy, to appeal for further support and set out West Lothian’s case.
Leader of West Lothian Council Lawrence Fitzpatrick said: “It’s vital that we’re given a proper funding package or it’s inevitable that local services will suffer.
“Councils the length and breadth of Scotland are going to be forced into making more cuts to local services because the funding we’re provided with simply isn’t enough to deliver the services we currently provide.
“The cuts to our budget in real terms over the past 16 years have been absolutely horrendous and now we face further reductions. That’s why I’m appealing to the Scottish Government to set out West Lothian’s position and to appeal for more funding that will allow us to at least maintain our current level of service delivery.
“Like any household, the less budget we have coming in, the less we can spend. That means less money being spent on local services such as roads, schools, social care, parks, waste and street cleansing and subsidising local public transport. All-important services, all valued by local people, all under threat.”
He added: “There are going to be tough challenges ahead and there’s nobody who wants to reduce services. The reality is that if some of the measures proposed aren’t agreed, other measures to save the equivalent amount of money will need to be found.
“Regrettably, there is no simple way to reduce this level of spending on local services which will not adversely impact on local communities.”
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