The council budget decisions in West Lothian will bring changes both visible, and behind the scenes, that are set to cause disruption and upset.
Some of the toughest choices may have been taken off the table but there are plenty of services that will either disappear or be diminished.
Much of the savings will be unseen in the day to day service provision of the council. But there will be a streamlining of services and service provision, greater digitisation and situations where staff are faced with additional duties.
The biggest concerns of unions in the meetings leading up to the budget was the effect that any cutbacks would have on the remaining staff, workloads being increased and changes to working practices.
The council has promised full consultation on changes but across the unions the local authority has been put on notice staff must have a say.
It is in the front-facing services that the community will see the more obvious effects of budget cutbacks. Those community centres not named as saved will see a review, which the council hopes will see community groups and users coming forward to manage the buildings
In public consultation late last year officials noted there was: “some concern about the capacity of local groups and communities to manage these assets and that the council will need to provide some level of advice and/or support to ensure that communities are not disadvantaged.
The consultation responses: “suggested that groups need greater support from the council to undertake asset transfer and obtain alternative funding to maintain their asset.”
And the officials pointed out: “ It was highlighted that this proposal may disproportionately negatively impact smaller and/or more isolated towns or villages in West Lothian, especially those that rely on community facilities as a hub for services, socialising and leisure activities.”
At the budget meeting on Tuesday councillor Janet Campbell, the SNP group leader, warned of the impact on communities which faced losing what little facilities they may have.
“Has the social cost of this budget reduction been taken into account?” she asked.
Julie Whitelaw the interim head of housing, customer and building services said a full mapping exercise had been undertaken across the community centres. The first proposals would be to work with community groups to try to promote community asset transfer, where this was not possible work would be done with community groups to find alternative venues.
Cutting the opening times of the five community recycling centres (CRCs) has already generated opposition from the community who believe it will mean a surge in fly-tipping,
Officials counter that tonnages collected at the CRCs would not be affected with people visiting less frequently but bringing bigger loads.
The removal of the concessionary rail scheme has also provoked anger. The West Lothian NEC offers discounted flat fare travel of £2 single and £4 return on off-peak train services operated by ScotRail between stations in the country and across central Scotland including Glasgow and Edinburgh. Some community councils have suggested that these services are relied on by the disabled and elderly.
The removal saves the council £213,00 in the next financial year.
Other cutbacks include the removal of the animal attraction at Beecraigs Country Park, reduced winter maintenance programmes and the closure of five automated public toilets.
Further down the line, and more controversial will be the move for West Lothian Leisure to stand alone without council funding. This is something which appeared in both the Labour budget passed by the council yesterday and also in the SNP budget proposals.
Closely tied to that will be the ongoing review throughout this year of all aspects of swimming pools and sports facilities in the area. West Lothian has 19 swimming pools - more per head of population than any local authority in the country.
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