West Lothian Council

04/02/2025

Free Circles of Support Workshop 11 and 18 February at West Lothian College, For further information see poster attached or you can book direct by contacting [email protected]

04/02/2025

After nearly 30 years of service, Mrs Margaret Hewitson retired as a member of ancillary and catering team at Blackridge Primary School & Early Learning Centre.

Pupils, staff and the wider school community recently came together to thanks Margaret and bid her a fond farewell after all her years dedicated to the school community.

Blackridge Primary School & Early Learning Centre, Head Teacher, Claire McGoldrick said: “ Mrs Hewitson is a much loved member of staff across our school community as a familiar face to many over nearly 30 years. She will be greatly missed by all, however she is off to enjoy a very well-deserved retirement and we wish her all the very best.”

04/02/2025

West Lothian Film Festival are looking for a charity partner. Further information is below 👇

📢 Cast Your Vote! Help Shape a 3-Year Partnership with the West Lothian Film Festival 📢

West Lothian is home to some incredible charities and organisations that make a real difference in our community. Some on this list are national organisations that have supported or could support West Lothian. Now, it's your chance to have your say! 💙

Remember—this vote will help determine a THREE-YEAR PARTNERSHIP, so every vote matters! Your input could directly influence long-term support for the organisations that uplift our community.

🌟 Nominees:
✅ Almond Valley Heritage Centre
✅ Board Of Management of West Lothian College
✅ Breast Friends and Family
✅ Clifton Hall School
✅ Firefly Arts
✅ The Film and TV Charity
✅ The Film Cult
✅ The Gateway VSGWL
✅ The Bridge Community Project
✅ The Larder
✅ The Scheme - Livingston
✅ The School Bank West Lothian
✅ HomeAid West Lothian
✅ Home-Start West Lothian
✅ Hopetoun
✅ Jamie's Sanctuary
✅ James Connolly Society
✅ Kidzeco
✅ Ladywell Neighbourhood Network
✅ Linlithgow Community Development Trust
✅ Lintel Trust
✅ Nicola's Supporting Woman in West Lothian
✅ Neil's Hugs Foundation
✅ River Kids Children's Charity
✅ Spark
✅ Stoneyburn and Bents Future Vision Group SCIO
✅ Vennie Knightsridge
✅ West Lothian Food Network
✅ West Lothian Women's Aid

🔗 Cast your vote here: https://forms.gle/x3fZxkwqQnz4aaTK9

This is a huge opportunity to ensure that any potential charitable donations and their impact are maximised. Your vote will help shape a three-year commitment between the WLFF and the organisation—don’t miss your chance to make a difference! 💪✨

Tag your friends, colleagues and even the organisation you voted for to encourage more votes! Remember to share this post also 📩

04/02/2025

Business Gateway West Lothian are holding 3 free webinars this week. For more information see below 👇

We're delighted to be bringing you 3 exciting free webinars this week! 💻

📢 First up, we have our 'Improve Your Selling & Negotiating Skills to Reach New Markets' webinar, delivered by the wonderful Michelle Brown. Attendees will leave this session with an insight into everything from improving their selling and negotiation skills and reaching new markets, to fine-tuning their sales questioning and overcoming rejections. This is taking place on Wednesday, the 5th of February, from 10:00am - 12:00pm.

💡 Later that day, our fantastic Adviser Tahrir will be leading a 'Business Start Up Support Session' from 7:00pm - 8:00pm, during which she will be highlighting the support available to help local residents launch their dream businesses. This session will be delivered in Arabic as is part of our West Lothian Women in Entrepreneurship project.

💰 Finally, on Thursday, the 6th of February, from 9:30am - 12:30pm, we will be hosting our 'Get Ready for Investment: Becoming Investor Ready' webinar. Delivered by the great Martin Aitken & Co Ltd team, this is perfect for business owners that are ready to take the next step with their businesses and secure investment. This is also part of our West Lothian Women in Entrepreneurship project.

To learn more about the events and to book your free space, click below ⬇️
https://www.investinwestlothian.com/news-events/events/categories/expert-help/

04/02/2025

Detectives in Lanarkshire are appealing for information after a report of a man with a weapon on the M8 near Chapelhall

Around 8.55am on Monday, 3 February, 2025, the police received a report of the incident on the slip road at Junction 6.

Officers attended and prior to their arrival, the man had left the scene on foot.

An extensive search of the area was carried out and a firearm was found. It has been recovered.

A 35-year-old man was subsequently traced and has been arrested. Enquiries are ongoing.

The M8 slip road and part on the A8 eastbound at Eurocentral were closed for around seven hours while enquiries were carried out. The road has since fully reopened.

Detective Inspector Stephanie Bertram, of Lanarkshire CID, said: "We believe this was a targeted incident and we are following a positive line of enquiry.

"The M8 would have been busy at the time and I would ask any drivers with dash-cams to please check their footage and contact us.

"I am also keen to speak to anyone who may have any information surrounding the circumstances of the incident as it is vital that we find out exactly what has happened.

"Officers have already spoken to some motorists who stopped at the time of the incident and I would like to thank everyone for their help so far.

"I would urgently appeal to anyone who was in the area, and who has not already spoken with us, to please do so."

Chief Inspector Gail Nicol, local area commander, said: "We understand this incident may be worrying for the local community and I would ask anyone with any concerns to speak to us."

Anyone with information can speak to officers, contact Police Scotland via 101 or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, quoting incident number 0602 of Monday, 3 February, 2025.

03/02/2025

The notice of election has been published ahead of the Broxburn, Uphall and Winchburgh By-Election on Thursday 13 March.

The nomination period for candidates runs from Tuesday 4 February 2025 to Monday 10 February 2025. Nominations can be lodged on weekdays between 10am and 4pm during this period.

Nominations must be lodged not later than 4pm on Monday 10 February 2025

Prospective candidates can find more information on the West Lothian Council website where you can also view the full notice of election: https://www.westlothian.gov.uk/buw-byelection

03/02/2025

Police appeal for missing person

West Lothian Police are appealing for information to establish the whereabouts of Liam Potter.

Liam was last seen around 1500 hours on Tuesday 28th of January 2025 within Edinburgh city centre . Police and family are concerned in relation to the welfare of Liam who has links to both West Lothian and Edinburgh.

Liam is 31 years old and was last seen wearing a green jacket, yellow high viz jumper, navy trousers and brown boots.

If anyone has any information please contact Police via 101 quoting Incident number: 1845 of the 31/01/2025.

03/02/2025

Essential Maintenance Glasgow Road Cemetery

Glasgow Road Cemetery will be closed to vehicles on the dates listed below. There will be no pedestrian access along the main entrance road on these dates. The cemetery car park will be closed to vehicles on these dates. Pedestrian access will remain open from the entrance located at Whitburn Road and will also be available through the ‘showground’. However, the later has no surfaced footpaths. We advise the public (pedestrians) to be cautious when visiting the cemetery during construction. Weather permitting, we anticipate the access road being fully resurfaced and reopened on 5th March. Works are taking place over three long weekends, with road condition being suitable for use by vehicles only on those weekdays throughout the repair programme not listed below.

Saturday 15th February
Sunday 16th February
Monday 17th February
Tuesday 18th February
Saturday 22nd February
Sunday 23rd February
Monday 24th February
Tuesday 25th February
Friday 28th February
Saturday 1st March
Sunday 2nd March
Monday 3rd March
Tuesday 4th March.

03/02/2025

Time is running out for West Lothian-based third sector organisations to apply for funding to deliver local community projects.

The deadline for applications is Sunday 23 February 2025.

Grants of up to £50,000 are available for projects that help tackle priority areas for the council, or support communities with the highest levels of poverty.

For more information or to apply, please visit https://www.westlothian.gov.uk/tscsf.

The Third Sector Community Support Fund is now OPEN.

03/02/2025

Library Closures – Annual Stock Take

Please see a list of our libraries and when they will be closed for our annual stock take.
There will be no access to the library on their stock take day, to allow us to accurately record our stock.
We thank you for your co-operation and apologize for any inconvenience caused.

For all further library opening times and contact details please visit https://www.westlothian.gov.uk/your-library

02/02/2025

Officers are appealing for information following a housebreaking at a property in Livingston.
The incident happened around 8pm on Saturday, 1 February, on Deanswood Park in the Deans area of the town.

The property was broken into and car keys taken along with a black Vauxhall Viva car, registration SG65 VGZ.

Detective Constable Lynn Myles said: “Our investigation to trace those responsible is ongoing and enquiries so far indicate there were two men seen in the area at the time.

“We are keen to find out more and are asking the public to check private CCTV, doorbell footage and dash-cams to see if they have captured anything that could assist officers.”

“Also, please get in touch if you see the car that was taken.”

Anyone who can help is asked to contact Police Scotland on 101, quoting incident number 3565 of Saturday, 1 February, 2024.

02/02/2025

A reminder that Beecraigs Country Park is currently closed to the public due to substantial storm damage caused by Storm Eowyn. The Visitor Centre is still closed, but the Hideaway Café is open to visitors. The Visitor Centre car park is open for café customers only. If visitors from Linlithgow wish to visit the café, the main path into Beecraigs through Hillhouse Woodland is currently clear (we advise caution). There is one path within Hillhouse that is closed, please follow all signs on site.

Access to the rest of the park is extremely limited at present, please see the map for the extent of the restricted areas. We ask that visitors look out for signage and do not enter any of the restricted areas shown on the map. Staff continue to speak to visitors this weekend that have walked past barriers and signage into restricted areas. Do not walk in these areas of the park as it is not safe to do so; the restrictions are in place for the safety of visitors and staff working within the park. Emergency services may not be able to attend an incident within these areas due to access being blocked by fallen trees. Due to the extent of the damage, access restrictions to certain areas of the park may remain in place for several weeks until the necessary work can be carried out.

The road to Balvormie Play Area remains closed due to storm damage, as does the Play Area itself, as there is no safe access to it from any of the surrounding paths or entry points. The old Animal Attraction car park will be open this weekend with limited parking to facilitate traffic movement, with limited access down the Sutherland Way. All other car parks remain closed. Do not park in gate entrances or on the road, as this prevents staff from carrying out important work.

Thank you for helping us as we work to assess the site. Further updates will be posted when we have them, on this page and on the West Lothian Council Country Parks page.

01/02/2025

01/02/2025

31/01/2025

****Update - The lights are now operational and the closure has been removed****.

Emergency road closures are In place at A89 Station Road Uphall Station and the unclassified road to the north. This is due to a failure in the 4 way permanent traffic signals at this junction caused by a failure in the Scottish Power supply to the signals. As this is a busy junction it is dangerous to try and maintain 4 way traffic flow without the traffic signals. As a result traffic flow will be limited to two way flow on the A89 only by closing access to Station Road and the unclassified road to the south of the junction. Access to both of these roads will have to be obtained by the use of other routes. Siemens and Scottish power have both been contacted and when power is restored to the lights the junction will be re-opened as normal.

31/01/2025

Polkemmet Country Park paths will be open this weekend, except for the west end of the Red waymarked route which starts from the Greenrigg entrance to the park – please see the map for more details. This loop is still closed due to an uprooted tree hanging up over the path. The next access point into the park for visitors walking in from the west is the Dumback entrance.

A small section of the main path from South car park remains closed due to a snapped tree that is leaning over the path. The cut through from the grass field is still open for visitors wishing to access the paths from South car park.

Please do not explore off the paths as there are some trees in the wider woodland areas that have been damaged from the storm. The path around the driving range remains closed as part of the scheduled woodland works. Please follow all signs on site and do not breach any path closures. Thank you.

31/01/2025

Hello - we have been made aware that the permanent traffic lights on the A89 cross roads with Station Road Uphall/Uphall Station are out and are likely to be out until 10pm tonight. There has been a damage to the Scottish Power Energy Network cable on site. They are working to repair this.

31/01/2025

£100 million council housing investment proposals & rent -
Investment of over £100million is being proposed to fund the creation of new council homes and maintain existing housing.
In brief:
• The proposed plans will see the significant investment towards the creation and acquisition of new homes
• Approved projects have delivered 277 new houses to date and the new build programme will deliver a further 150 additional new council houses, including both new build and open market acquisition additions (where the council buys properties to create council homes). This will deliver an overall total of 427 new council houses over the course of the investment programme.
• Approximately, £33 million is planned to be invested to improve and maintain existing housing, ensuring council homes continue to meet the Scottish Quality Housing Standard (SQHS).
• Works include projects to deliver energy efficiency measures, central heating replacements, aids and adaptations, electrical testing and repair and external wall insulation upgrades
• £17.9million to be invested in fourteen individual projects which includes a variety of upgrades consisting of long-term maintenance work, where structural elements such as roof and external walls are beyond repair
• Planned programme works of £31.6million will take place - covering a broad range of activities, including kitchens and bathroom replacements, window and door refurbishments, painting and fencing programmes.
• £638,000, is proposed to continue on general environmental improvements and external upgrading, including tenant led street improvement projects. Although many works are of a small scale, these projects can have a substantial impact on local amenities and will be informed by council tenants and local communities.
(This is a selection of examples - not them all. Please see the committee paper for all details)
Council housing rent – The meeting will also review proposals for an updated rent strategy for council homes and garages. The is designed to help ensure continued investment in council housing infrastructure, improving existing homes and creating new affordable homes. The rent strategy proposes the continuation of an annual increase of 3.5% each year from 2025/26 to 2027/28. This follows consultation with the tenants with the majority of those that responded expressing a preference for a 3.5% per annum rent increase. All income generated via council housing rent is reinvested in council housing and services for tenants.

A meeting of the council’s Housing Services Policy Development Scrutiny Panel (PDSP) is to discuss the proposals next week – which would see the investment over the next three years. Following discussion at PDSP, the proposals will go forward to a budget setting meeting in February for final approval.