Tuesday January 20th 2026
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
East Lothian’s provost today warned councillors will face tough decisions as they try to plug a £2.7million gap in their budget for the year ahead over the next few weeks.
A meeting of the Labour administration cabinet heard an updated report from their head of finance Ellie Dunnet who said additional Scottish Government funding had reduced the initial estimated gap of just under £6.9m.
It means early warnings that council tax would have to go up by a whopping 13 per cent to fill the financial hole just one year after residents were hit with a 10 per cent increase are likely to be revised.
The financial report which was written before the Scottish Government announced how much money councils would be getting last week had warned that without extra funding or further service cuts they would “require council tax increases in excess of 13%, equivalent to £4.12 weekly increases for an average property”.
Last year the council was one of the first in Scotland to announce a 10 per cent increase in council tax bills after a freeze on raising it was lifted with draft budgets for this year suggesting five per cent would be required.
A council spokesperson said the updated figures from the Scottish Government would ‘likely mean a lower council tax increase than stated in the report alongside other budget measures”.
However they added: “It should be noted that this is an emerging position and these figures are liable to change. The council continues to face a number of existing and emerging risks and unfunded pressures which will need to be considered as part of the budget setting process.
“Decisions on spending commitments and council tax levels will require to be taken in the context of the full information available in the coming weeks at a council budget meeting in February.”
Provost John McMillan told the cabinet meeting elected members now have a month to decide how to fill the £2.7m budget gap for the year ahead.
Councillor McMillan said: “There are tough decisions which will need to be made over the next four weeks.”
Income from council tax makes up one quarter of the funding for local authority services with the other three quarters coming from the Scottish Government grant. Councillors will meet on February 24 to set the budget and council tax for the coming year.
Council leader Norman Hampshire told cabinet members that the grant from the government was not enough to balance the books and more savings would have to be found but added “we will get to a breaking point.”
He said: “It is still a huge amount of money to find and I don’t know how we are going to get there.
“There continues to be growth in East Lothian and more people demanding services. We are being asked to deliver a huge amount of growth without the resources we need to support it.”
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