Two villages in the Linlithgow area could get a second chance to set up community councils.
Bridgend and Philpstoun didn’t manage to gather enough support to set up council in the last elections which took place in October.
But at the recent local area committee councillor Sally Pattle said there was enough interest in the communities to fill spaces with other committees active in the community.
The two are among ten communities stretching across West Lothian which failed to find enough people to set up a community council.
Douglas Grierson, the Regeneration Team leader, said there was a six-month window to hold new elections.
A council spokesperson confirmed “officers are going to be doing community engagement in the New Year to raise awareness of Community Councils and provide support in the community to the 10 areas that there is no current community council. This is with a view to supporting the establishment where possible.”
All three local councillors worked to promote the community councils especially in the smaller communities. Labour’s Tom Conn at one time served on the Bridgend community council. Sally Pattle was a member of Linlithgow and Linlithgow Bridge. Councillor Pauline Orr has been working with community groups in Bridgend.
Councillor Tom Conn suggested that both communities could come together to form a joint community council if individual councils couldnt be formed.
Councillor Orr said there are some people in Bridgend interested “but not enough”.
Councillor Pattle said: “The Philpstoun community centre management committee has about 20 folk sitting on it. You have a group who are active in community matters.
“I think there’s a misconception about what community councils are about.”
In his report to the Linlithgow Local Area Committee Mr Grierson said: “The Community Wealth Building Team (CWBT) supported the recent West Lothian Community Council elections by assisting with local promotion and community engagement to encourage nominations.
“In addition to the council-wide publicity campaign, the CWBT delivered targeted information sessions in areas where there was a risk that the minimum number of nominations might not be achieved.
“Despite proactive engagement, including information sessions delivered at Bridgend Community Centre and Philpstoun Community Centre neither returned the minimum number of nominations required to re-establish a community council following this election cycle.
“Officers will continue to promote the opportunities in the coming months. Following the election period, Committee Services has been in contact with all newly re-formed community councils to ensure that the appropriate governance and procedural steps are followed at their first meetings post-election, to enable formal establishment and registration.”
By Stuart Sommerville, Local Democracy Reporter
