Thursday December 4th 2025
New housing has increased East Lothian's population in recent years like this development at the new town of Blindwells
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Marie Sharp
Fears East Lothian residents could end up paying higher council tax bills while Government funding for public services is cut are set to be raised by councillors.
East Lothian Council officers have raised concerns that a national review of council tax banding will put a ‘disproportionate’ number of home owners in the county into the higher brackets.
And they say the Scottish Government’s plan to make the council tax revenue neutral could mean that funding for the local authority will be cut further penalising the area.
A public consultation has been launched nationally on government proposals to change the current band system used to determine household council tax bills with options including creating a new 14 tier of costs to cover updated property values.
Its consultation document argues the current banding system is outdated because it is based on the value of houses in 1991 and needs to be updated to reflect the current housing market.
However it acknowledges there has been a vast difference across the country in the increased values of homes with East Lothian seeing the biggest rise in value – at 500 per cent, well above the national average of 357 per cent and the increase in Edinburgh which is estimated at 448 per cent.
In a draft response to a consultation on proposals to reform council tax nationally, officers say the approach put forward by the Scottish Government will undermine the principles of council tax.
They will urge elected members to back a call for the council leader to write to the Cabinet Secretary for finance and local government highlighting concerns about the impact of new tax bands on the county.
They say: “It is likely that East Lothian would see a reduction in the funding it receives from Scottish Government while our residents see their council tax bills increasing if these proposals were implemented.
“This undermines the principle of council tax as a local tax, with residents able see the link between the tax they pay and the quality of local services.
“East Lothian is already significantly disadvantaged through the current distribution of grant funding to local government, with one of the lowest levels of funding per capita in Scotland, resulting in significant increases in council tax charges being necessary in recent years.
“While the council supports the objective to achieve a more up to date, progressive and proportionate system for council tax, it does not feel appropriate for changes to be considered in isolation from the broader local government funding system.”
Councillors will be asked to approve the draft response to the consultation on council tax reforms at a meeting next week as well as direct the council leader to write to the minister.
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