An end to top-down administration and more community involvement in the day-to-day running of council committees has been promised by the SNP as it seeks to forge a new way of running West Lothian.
The SNP group in the council has promised to change committee structures if it takes control of the administration next week.
Group leader Councillor Janet Campbell told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “For West Lothian Council to work more effectively for its communities the SNP believe that power must be built from within these communities and not delivered using a top down approach - as we currently see happening.
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Seeking to “redefine” the relationship between council and citizens by ensuring local people are at the heart of decision making. Councillor Campbell said: “An SNP administration will change the way council committees are organised by creating places on every council committee for local organisations."
Councillor Campbell added: “The SNP believes council run services should be built around local communities and their own identified needs, aspirations and capacities. The key principle in all of this is listening – we want our communities to be at the heart of everything we do.
“We believe our communities know best about what their needs are – we want to work in partnership with our communities, not tell them what services they need.”
The SNP has also announced an intention to improve funding to the anti poverty service and promised to seek an end of charging for residential care as part of the wider development of a National Care Service.
On green issues the party has a pledge to seek to develop an "ultra- modern" recycling centre potentially integrating a form of self-generating energy and to include the resource to sort or transfer refuse in-house.
It will also seek to develop vehicle charging provision throughout West Lothian and support the local bus companies in the removal of fossil fuels from the local public transport network
Councillor Campbell thinks West Lothian needs a “strategic approach to planning”
She added: “We want to see the development of mixed tenure sustainable communities with plenty of open green space and with the requisite community facilities inherent in all new developments.
“The SNP wants people and communities to actively engage in the planning process and have an influence over future development of their area. We know that people want to be involved in the decisions that shape the places they live, work and play. Effective communication at the earliest possible stage can lead to better plans, better decisions and more satisfactory outcomes, and it can help to avoid delays in the planning process too.”
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