A council should be judged on the basics: clean public toilets, emptied bins, safe bridges, warm libraries and open leisure centres. But Scottish Borders Council has been cutting back on these services, or passing them over to unaccountable arm’s length organisations like Live Borders. If we don’t protect them now, they’ll continue to suffer cuts in the coming years.
What’s happening
- Leisure facilities are being cut back. Live Borders, which runs our leisure centres, libraries and halls, is moving to a “fewer, but better” estate. It’s preparing to offload a number of assets thanks to an almost 50% loss of funding compared to what it received a decade ago.
- Communities are left holding the keys. Live Borders gave the Peebles Drill Hall just a few weeks’ notice that it was withdrawing support. Volunteers are taking on St. Ronan’s Wells in Innerleithen, and possibly also the Memorial Hall. The library in Jedburgh has permanently closed, despite community efforts to keep some level of service going. Any voluntary initiatives to sustain local services should be commended, but the council and Live Borders can’t keep dropping them onto the shoulders of people who aren’t paid to keep them going.
- Council Tax was raised by 8.5% in 2026-27, but the cuts keep coming.
Our position
- No closures of community facilities without real community takeover plans, backed up by meaningful consultations, proper funding and expert help.
- Libraries are essential services in every community and cannot be cut any further.
- Publish the numbers. Scottish Borders Council must publish honest, inflation-adjusted figures on services, and quarterly public reports on complaints and responses.
- Raise money fairly to fund local services and facilities. A Borders visitor levy should be raised and spent on what visitors use.
- Replace council tax altogether. The Scottish Greens are campaigning nationally for the wholesale reform of council tax, to replace outdated tax bands with a fairer system based on what properties are actually worth today.
