Deprived areas“will miss out”

A fund which will see West Lothian get a £1m spending boost has been criticised for not giving enough money to help one of the area’s most deprived communities.

Communities across West Lothian are set to see a £1m boost from the latest tranche of Holyrood funding for the Town Centre Fund.

But the way the cash is allocated has drawn criticism for the way it is distributed.

The SNP’s depute group leader Councillor Frank Anderson is a strident critic, along with Tory councillors, of the funding calculations.

At the recent local area committee for his ward - East Livingston and East Calder - he pointed out that Craigshill, one of the poorest and most densely populated areas in Livingston, will get just £12,156 - the lowest figure in the council ward that takes in five other communities.

All six communities in the East Livingston and East Calder ward get a total of £83,564 to spend on projects to improve the town centre environments.

Councillor Anderson told the meeting: “It would be remiss of me not to take the opportunity once again to make the point that, if we actually look at the tables, Craigshill has the sixth largest population.

“Once again, it has the fifth lowest allocation of money.

“The tables get reversed.” He added: “It’s one of the biggest areas of deprivation in West Lothian, and if we compare it with East Whitburn and Seafield, who have a fifth of the population of Craigshill and yet get the equivalent money, there is something far wrong with the allocation of this money.”

Applications are being sought from community and voluntary groups.

But local people have less than a month to put their bids in.

The deadline is 5pm on Friday, April 22.