Call to bid for share of rural funding New centre brings services together
State-of-art facility
Time is running out for local community, rural enterprise and farm diversification projects to apply for West Lothian LEADER funding.
Rural development fund West Lothian LEADER programme has already awarded over £1 million to projects in West Lothian and will make its final awards in March 2019.
Projects have unt i l November 5 to submit an expression of interest in order to have your application considered. The aim of LEADER is to increase support to local rural community and business networks to build knowledge and skills, and encourage innovation and cooperation in order to tackle local development objectives. They award funding to local organisations, businesses and the third sector.
A West Lothian LEADER spokesperson said: “We would encourage any West Lothian groups considering applying for LEADER funding to do soas soon as possible. Please get in touch if you need any further advice.”
For details visit www. leader. westlothian. gov. uk or 01506 283094.
Work has been completed on a new state- of-the-art facility to bring council services under one roof.
The new Whitehill Service Centre in Bathgate is home to around 800 council staff from services including Roads and Transportation, Recycling, Waste Services and Fleet Services, NETs, Land and Countryside Services. The service centre is at Whitehill Industrial Estate in Bathgate, on the site of the former Mahle building and replaces a number of older and inefficient council properties.
The completion of the centre will see the demolition of outdated council depots and offices such as Guildiehaugh and Waverley Street to make way for council housing and will help to regenerate the Whitehill Industrial Estate.
Executive councillor for the environment Tom Conn was joined by leader of West Lothian Council Lawrence Fitzpatrick and West Lothian Council chief executive, Graham Hope, to officially open the new facility.
The new facility at Inchmuir Road also includes a new waste transfer facility and two salt domes which will hold 30,000 tonnes of salt, providing resilience for responding to winter weather.
Councillor Tom Conn said: “I am delighted to open the new, Whitehill Service Centre which will help the council modernise the way it delivers key services. With so many teams coming together in the state-of-the-art facility it really is the ideal setting for collaborative working to deliver the best service possible for the people of West Lothian.”
Leader of West Lothian Council Lawrence Fitzpatrick added: “This is another example of the council effectively rationalising existing buildings to bring services together under one roof in order to create savings and allow the council to work smarter through modern energy- efficient buildings and better working practices in order to best serve the West Lothian community.”