Thursday February 12th 2026
The fleet service teams keeps gritters and other vehicles running through the worst of weather (photo by West Lothian Council).
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Stuart Sommerville
A move to introduce a new vehicle fleet in the West Lothian Council is starting to pay dividends.
The council operates more than 1,000 vehicles and pieces of equipment from gritters down to the Glutton machines which clean the street.
Ongoing changes to services and an eventual reduction in the number of vans and lorries vehicles will save the council over £400,000 in the next year.
And taking some services “in-house” will add another £130,000 of savings, councillors heard.
Unions congratulated the fleet service team for their work at a special budget meeting to discuss proposals around the budget and fleet modernisation.
Councillors will decide the budget in two weeks time in the face of a growing budget gap- recently revealed to have reached £15m.
Scott Blyth, the council’s Fleet Services Manager revealed a new renewal programme in late 2024 The plan will eventually bring down the vehicle fleet from more than 1,000 to around 850.
David Maule, Head of Operational services told councillors on the Environment and Sustainability PDSP that a five year rolling fleet programme reflected reduced demand and reliance on costly short term hire of vehicles.
“We’re fortunately able to deliver significant efficiencies”, said Mr Maule.
The council will save £130,000 by installing its own vehicle washing facilities at the Whitehill depot in Bathgate. At the moment gritters and HGV’s have to be cleaned off site by a contractor.
A deep clean is needed every six weeks to allow the council’s mechanics to service the vehicles.
Mr Maule said the new facility would be fully operational this year generating savings next.
The services team prioritises maintenance of the fleet of gritters, mini tractors and specially adapted vans which are used to keep hundreds of miles of roads and footpaths clear.
Mr Blyth told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Winter brings significant pressure for many teams within Operational Services and we are no different in Fleet Services. Our job in the winter is to ensure our colleagues in Roads keep moving, so they can carry out their winter maintenance duties and keep roads and pathways safe. This has a domino effect that helps our Waste colleagues collect bins and allows Building Services to visit and carry out essential repairs at this time of year.”
The team also works seven days a week, and also on call out to carry out roadside repairs.
Mr Blyth added: “What a lot of people don’t appreciate is that there are occasions where members of the Fleet team can find themselves out battling the weather conditions trying to get access to a broken down gritter in a remote area of West Lothian in order to carry out repairs.
“Such occasions require quick thinking and resilience and they provide a first-class emergency service as highly trained technicians.”
Speaking at the PDSP Pat Tedford, representing the joint trade unions, paid tribute to the Whitehill team. He told councillors: “The joint trade unions would like to congratulate fleet services for the tremendous work they have done, the new fleet they have brought in, and the service operatives have been receiving from the fleet garage. It’s noticeable in the standard of the vehicles etc, so we’d like to congratulate Scott and his team on the work they have done in the last year.”
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