Councillors have been warned the planned closure of a payment office would leave people "struggling".
The council plans to stop taking rent and council tax payments at Bathgate’s Jim Walker Partnership Centre. The service was restored in the post Covid re-opening of the Partnership building on South Bridge Street.
But as visitor numbers and footfall at the centre returning to pre-pandemic levels, Councillor Willie Boyle warned many people would “struggle to engage” if the service was removed.
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A report to the ward’s Local Area Committee by Regeneration Officer Douglas Benson said: “The Bathgate payment office remains open for customers to continue to make payments to rent and council tax accounts. From 1 February 2023 to 30 April 2023, 4,448 payment transactions were made and £644,313.49 in income taken during this period.
Councillor Boyle added: “I want to pick up on the payment office. I understand that this is being withdrawn and I have had a lot of interest in this from constituents regarding the loss of the service.”
Councillor Boyle said that a lot of vulnerable people “just can’t connect” with online systems and asked Mr Benson if numbers of visitors could be checked once the service is withdrawn.
He asked if there could be monitoring to get an idea of how many people would be affected, adding: “I don’t expect there to be vast numbers but there will be people who struggle to engage with modern technology.
“If we don’t measure it in some way I think we’re doing a disservice to vulnerable groups in the community.”
Mr Benson’s wider report was welcomed by councillor Boyle for containing a “ lot of good news”.
Bathgate’s town centre continues to buck the trend with better than average occupancy and lower business turnovers than elsewhere in the country and across the UK. Occupancy in the town centre in April was 92.5% with a vacancy rate of 7.5%.
“As context the rate remains favourable in comparison with the rest of the UK where vacancies run at 11%, and the Scottish national average of 10.6%,” said Mr Benson.
The report also pointed to the success of the Business Gateway team in the ward over the last year. The committee heard that the council had supported the launch of 60 businesses in the Bathgate ward.
The report added: “In the 12 months to March 2023, a further 60 new start businesses have been established in the ward with the team’s support. This is a healthy level of starts, especially in a strong jobs market with many vacancies.
“Over the same timescale, the Business Gateway team assisted 104 existing firms in the Ward who between them employ 3,041 staff and have sales of £315.12m.”
