Thursday September 4th 2025
Resemount cafe
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Stuart Sommerville
A community café in a West Lothian pensioner care complex will shut its doors on Friday after a last ditch effort to keep it open failed.
Local SNP councillors had raised a motion at this week’s council Executive to stall the closure of the café in the town’s Rosemount Gardens elderly care housing complex.
Bathgate’s SNP councillor Pauline Stafford, who has worked with campaigners since March, said the closure would hit: “the most vulnerable in our community.”
The council Executive is legally bound to support the decision of the Integration Joint Board to close the cafe.
The SNP motion argued that the IJB decision was based on “ incorrect or incomplete information” and called for the reversal of the decision.
It was voted down by 7-3.
Councillor Stafford detailed the number of groups which use the café weekly. “We should be keeping older people’s mental and physical health as good as it can be for as long as it can be,” she added.
“We need to listen to people, we need to admit that mistakes have been made.”
Councillor Janet Campbell, the SNP group leader said: “Local service users did not appear to be aware until March that there was an issue of funding for the café. It is the service users who are no more at risk than they were before.”
Labour councillor Craig Meek said the SNP government was pushing every IJB in Scotland into positions where cut backs had to be made.
Council leader Lawrence Fitzpatrick said: “Adequate food will be provided to residents. That is the key role of our social services.
“It is the case that there is nothing to stop other user groups who wish to use the café area to come forward with suggestions. But remember, this will always be subject to consultation with the residents.”
Councillor Stafford told the Local Democracy Reporting Service after the meeting: “I am extremely disappointed by this decision. The closure of the café service will undoubtedly have a damaging effect on the health and well-being of some of the most vulnerable in our community.
“The IJB’s vision statement refers to partnership working. Had this been carried out in good faith we would not be in this position today. We must trust the communities we serve to know what they need and collaborate with them to find solutions that meet their needs.”
“West Lothian has an ageing population and our focus should be on providing preventative services to enable people to live well and independently for as long as possible. Rosemount café embodies this approach wholeheartedly and its closure will leave many without a vital hub and support network that went far beyond its role as a café in improving the well-being and health of its users and strengthening community ties.”
Councillor Campbell added: “I am very disappointed that the founding principles of the IJB do not appear to have been met in this case. Local people are best placed to solve local problems but this community have been left out of any decision making.”
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