Craigshill is one of the poorest parts of West Lothian, yet three years into a national regeneration programme it is still being deprived of funds which properly reflect its dire conditions, a councillor claimed this week,
Councillor Frank Anderson, depute SNP group leader, won agreement from Tory group leader Damian Doran-Timson about the way the Town Centre Regeneration Fund, supplied by Holyrood, is distributed.
The fund ,which makes awards to communities across the country, is open to all with a population of over 1,000. It creates huge and obvious disparities. In Craigshill the spend is all the more noticeable because the Town Centre Fund makes one allocation for the whole of Livingston.
“Livingston as a whole, and particular areas, are being disadvantaged,” said Councillor Anderson.
In the latest allocation, Craigshill will get £12,156- the lowest figure in the council ward that takes in five other communities.
All six communities in the East Livingston and East Calder ward get a total of £83,564 to spend on projects to improve the town centre environments.
Councillor Anderson told a meeting of the East Livingston and East Calder local area committee: “It would be remiss of me not to take the opportunity once again to make the point that if we actually look at the tables Craigshill has the sixth largest population and, once again, it has the fifth lowest allocation of money. The tables get reversed.”
He added: “It’s one of the biggest areas of deprivation in West Lothian, and if we compare it with East Whitburn and Seafield, who have a fifth of the population of Craigshill and yet get the equivalent money, there is something far wrong with the allocation of this money.
“I know it comes down to the lump sum being given to Livingston as a whole as opposed to each of the clearly identified areas within Livingston but it is a smaller lump sum for everybody.
“ I’ll keep emphasising this. It’s the wrong system. It really disappoints me."
Pointing out that he was not criticising Douglas Benson, the council officer who delivered the report to committee, Councillor Anderson said that the fact that it was the same disbursement method as last year showed that the council was not taking on board the comments made.
Chairing the meeting, Councillor Doran-Timson said: “You and I have both made those comments previously, and I agree with every word you have said. It’s not the way forward.”
Chris Davidson, chair of East Calder and District Community Council also called for some clarity of the spending plans . He questioned whether the fund for East Calder had to be spent in the village- which would ignore the surrounding district and villages such as Wilkieston.
Mr Davidson said that he didn’t question the amount awarded to East Calder- £18, 824 -but said: “East Calder’s one of the fastest growing populations. It shows the inadequacy of the allocation system that is not keeping pace with the population growth.”
He added: “It needs to be reviewed to see if there is a better way of doing it. There’s still some doubt if we can use it in the district, in places like Wilkieston. There are things that need to be looked at to try and make it a fairer allocation.”
Councillor Doran-Timson said:“There is a very good question on where it can be used. It would be very useful if that could be taken away and if we can have that confirmed.”
