Tuesday September 29th 2026
West Lothian Council headquarters
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Stuart Sommerville
Senior finance officers will meet with colleagues from across Scotland to discuss proposed changes to local government, West Lothian councillors were told this week.
Head of Finance Alasdair Black will provide an initial response to the Holyrood proposals for public sector changes when he addresses the Council Executive next week.
The only clear answer appears to be wait and see. It will be the end of the year before things become any clearer.
Conservative group leader Damian Doran-Timson who chairs the Governance and Risk Committee and others raised questions about the financial effects of the proposed shake-up at committee this week.
Senior Labour councillor Harry Cartmill raised his concerns for the changes and how they could affect West Lothian Leisure, the council’s arms’ length leisure trust which runs Xcite gyms and pools.
He told the meeting: “Where do our Xcite gyms, our ALEOs sit under these proposals? I am quite worried about what will happen to them.”
At this month’s meeting of the Governance and Risk Councillor Doran-Timson said: “We’re all aware of all sorts of noise from the public service review. What if anything can we do prior to the changes to mitigate any risk?
Mr Black said he hoped to have a clearer understanding after the initial three month consultation and the proposals in the Scottish Budget published in December.
He believed that arms length external organisations (ALEOs) such as Xcite gyms would remain under the rule of community authorities.
In the interim, and with lack of details on finances and wider restructuring he and other financial officers will be meeting to discuss the proposals put forward to CoSLA by the First Minister and Depute First Minister last week.
CoSLA has been asked to respond to suggestions from Holyrood to create eight new regional authorities and around 160-180 community authorities- an echo of the local government scene pre 1996 in which there were nine Regional Councils and 53 districts on the mainland. Only the islands ad unitary authorities.
The nine mainland regional councils handled larger strategic services like education, social work, and transport. The district councils handled local services like housing, environmental health, and local planning.
Few councillors would argue against the need for some reforms of local government but many baulk at the outline proposed last week especially the lack of detail.
The only obvious answer to both elected members and council officers is that without proper funding no public sector services can be sustained.
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