Thursday February 26th 2026
West Lothian Council headquarters
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Stuart Sommerville
West Lothian Council is set to stop public broadcasting of its meetings as part of the budget cuts agreed this week.
The proposal, which will save £51,000 largely in staffing costs, was one of dozens put forward in a bid to help the council balance its budget.
Reform councillor David McLennan branded the move “Orwellian”, and the proposal also attracted wider criticism from SNP councillors.
It was one of many options in the budget which councillors around the chamber with were unhappy at but voted to support the wider budget measures proposed by the minority Labour-led administration.
The opposition SNP group made no mention of retaining the broadcasts in its own budget proposal. Additionally the party proposed stopping publication of the Bulletin, the council’s newspaper delivered free to all households.
Councillor McLennan was unhappy at the broadcast proposal. He told the budget meeting: “I think it’s reprehensible that the ability for the public to be able to see democracy at work is being taken away.
“It’s almost Orwellian, shutting out the public, and I completely disagree with this.“
Councillor Willie Boyle was one of several SNP councillors who also questioned the losedown. He asked for a breakdown on the savings and told the meeting “We regularly declare on our paperwork about being open, honest and accountable.” He asked if the loss of the service had been considered in terms of openness and accountability.
Lesley Henderson, Head of Corporate Services, told meeting that the public could still attend meetings in the chamber.
“That’s what we did in the past. We’re moving back the way instead of forwards,” replied Councillor Boyle.
The plan is to enable councillors to continue to connect to meetings online.
The public consultation on potential savings, late last year, showed little support for retaining the service.
The broadcasts have few regular viewers, often in single figures. Ironically, around 30 to 40 people remained tuned in throughout the four- hours plus of the budget meeting on Tuesday.
Some regular meetings in the chamber such as the Licensing Board are not broadcast because of the potential sensitivities of information that may be discussed.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) is a public service news agency funded by the BBC. It has covered West Lothian Council’s committee meetings since 2018, and will continue to do so.
The council has broadcast audio/visual and recorded the majority of its meetings- those held in the council chambers since the end of the Covid pandemic.
During the pandemic it began wider use of audio streaming of meetings from the chamber. Meetings held in other council buildings such as the Local Area Committees are not broadcast because there are no AV facilities.
Prior to the pandemic only meetings of the full council were streamed on audio.
No date for the end of broadcasts has been given. A spokesperson for West Lothian Council told the LDRS: “The visual broadcasting of meetings only began during Covid and it was felt necessary at that time to invest in visual committee broadcasts due to the public and committee members being restricted from attending physical meetings.
“However, that is no longer the case.
“The viewing figures from members of the public are small, and in many cases only a few people watch some meetings.
“Given the financial pressures facing the council, and the low demand for this service, it has been agreed that this service could be removed.
“The decision has only just been agreed and we will now look at the arrangements to end the current process and introduce a new alternative hybrid system for committee participants.
“The reduction in spending will result in there being no resource to record and edit audio or visual meetings. However members of the public can, as always, attend meetings in person and view from the public gallery. Full Agendas, Reports and Minutes of all meetings are also published on the council’s website.”
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