Wednesday June 25th 2025
Councillor Norman Hampshire, Leader of the East Lothian Council and Cabinet Spokesperson for Planning
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Marie Sharp
East Lothian’s council leader has warned residents they will face more cuts to services despite reporting an underspend of more than £1million over the last year.
Norman Hampshire said rising costs to services left the council facing further ‘efficiencies’ as it tries to balance the books in the years ahead.
And he said pressure on children’s and adult services, which both overspent last year, continued to grow.
Councillor Hampshire was speaking at a meeting of the full council this week where officers presented a draft report on spending for 2024/25.
It revealed that the general services budget saw an underspend of £1.238 million but warned this was only achieved after receiving one-off VAT rebates and taking money from its reserves with officers saying the council would have overspent by over £4million without it.
The report added that children’s services overspent by £2million while the health and social care partnership required additional funds of nearly £3million from the council.
Mr Hampshire said protecting children and adult services put pressure on the local authority as he warned people would have to expect more cuts and charges.
He said: “I need to say to communities going forward that we are going to continue to deliver further efficiencies and take actions that will reduce the level of service that they have enjoyed over the years.
“It is just the position we are in as a council and we need to continue to take actions to keep this council going to make sure the vulnerable people in our communities are looked after.”
Pointing to the brown bin charges which people have accepted after years of garden waste being collected for free, Councillor Hampshire said finding more ways to raise funds was an additional challenge for the council.
He said: “We will have to look at other areas where income can be generated but they are going to be difficult and we will have to take the difficult choices going forward if we are going to make sure this council delivers a balanced budget and keeps the high level of service we have across East Lothian.”
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