Community Centre update

There are 34 Community Centres in West Lothian and all 34 will remain open but new 'operating models' need to be implemented to ensure that the income generated from their lets contributes towards their running costs.

Currently individual Management Committees receive all the income generated via community centres and village hall lets, but the council pays for all of the costs for staffing, heating and electricity, and maintenance.

This is no longer a sustainable operating model and the council has been engaging with Community Centre Management Committees to discuss ways in which the committees can retain control of centres, but to also ensure that the income generated by the centres contributes towards the cost of running the centres, and that centres remain on a sound financial footing.

It remains the council's preference that community centres continue to remain community operated by local groups. However, if Management Committees or local groups choose not to adopt a new operating model by November 2025, and no other operating model has been developed which will deliver the identified savings, then the council will, as a last option, consider bringing the management of community centres back under the council's control to ensure they remain open for community use.

A report being presented by council officers this week highlights that:

• 5 Management Committees are progressing with plans to take on the Management of centres under a Community Asset Transfer or Lease agreement
• 11 Management Committees are looking at adopting new models in future or are willing to consider a new model. Council officers are still working with them. If they choose not to, they will move into council control
• Consideration will be given to developing a council operating model for the centres which do not currently have management committees, where the management committees did not respond or where the management committees have confirmed that they do not intend to continue to deliver the community management of the centre.

What would be the impact if centres moved to a Council Operating Model?

Overall, currently community centres are available 98 hours per week, however, they are used only 52% of this time.

This has allowed officers to review the programmes and operational days to identify more efficient ways of operating community centres, whilst minimising the impact on users.

The council would ensure the buildings are open when they are being used and closed when they are not in use, whilst ensuring that the community activities continue, including opportunities for occasional lets and scope to increase the activity programme.

Under proposed adjustments to the operating hours, 8 community centres would see a minimal reduction of 2 hours or less in comparison to the current model, and 5 community centres would have their available hours increased, in comparison to the current model, to accommodate activities and potential transfers from other local community centres.

This would reduce the staffing and energy costs of operating the building when it is not is use.  Based on the reduced operating hours and from potential energy efficiency measures an estimated reduction in energy consumption of 30% can be achieved.

Further savings can be achieved by increasing the use of self-access and the use of an online booking system which would be implemented to allow communities to see a calendar of events/activities happening in the community centre and allow bookings to be made online. A pilot of a similar approach was undertaken at Whitburn Community Centre and there was a 5% increase in bookings.

On the basis of the current programme of activities in community centres, officers have identified that a small number of activities may have to either change the time of day they use the community centre or the day that the activity is undertaken; only 6% (32, out of 507) of groups/activities would be impacted by changes.

However, officers would pro-actively engage with the groups/activities regarding the potential impact, to look at solutions which would allow the activity to continue within the same location. Council officers would also develop a programme of events and aim to increase the use of community centres.

Officers will continue to put a focus on community engagement and support the community to have influence over the type of activities held within community centres that would be of benefit to them.

In addition, charges for the use of the building would follow the approved charging and concession structure in place for the hire of council education buildings. However, the charges would be at 80% of the education rates to mitigate against the impact of any changes to pricing in comparison to charges currently applied. Education rates are the current rates applied to the hiring of facilities within schools.

Julie Whitelaw, the council's Head of Housing, Customer and Building Services said: "No community centre in West Lothian is going to close, and with the support of Management Committees and local communities we will work to ensure facilities continue to provide locations for local groups and local businesses to use.

"We have continually said that our preferred option is for Management Committees to continue to operate centres under new arrangements and that the money generated via community centre usage pays for their running costs.

"If Management Committees or local groups choose not to adopt a new operating model by November 2025, and no other operating model has been proposed which will deliver the identified savings, then the council will, as a last option, consider bringing the management of community centres back under the council's control to ensure they remain open for community use."

Other highlights from the report:

• Officers continue to engage with the management committees who have indicated that they wish to continue to operate the community facility but have so far been unable to develop a sustainable business model
• For the remaining community centres who have confirmed that they do not wish to progress any of the options, and are not working towards an alternative model, it is recommended that the council operating model is implemented and that the community centre will by default return to the operation of the council
• Based on feedback, there are organisations who would consider taking on a community centre via CAT who did not want to liaise with the council while Management Committees were the incumbents. Therefore, officers will undertake another roadshow focussing on the properties which would be part of the council operating model to seek organisation who would be interested in CAT - while maintaining the current community centre programmes for the building