West Lothian Council has approved plans to invest £48.4 million in public assets such as schools, roads and open spaces.

An updated general services capital plan for 2017/18 was agreed by council executive this week, which includes over £21.2m for property assets such as schools, care homes and operational buildings and £15.7m to be invested in roads and related assets.

They also agreed to spend £4.5m on open spaces like parks, play areas and sports pitches, with a further £7m to be invested on information communication technology (ICT) such as replacing PCs in schools and upgrading essential software packages.

In 2016/17, the council invested £69.6m in capital assets, in projects such as school extensions, new partnership centres and repairing the road network for the benefit of West Lothian residents.

Leader of West Lothian Council Lawrence Fitzpatrick said: “Spending wisely on our assets is necessary to allow us to deliver essential services to the people of West Lothian.

“I’m confident this general services capital plan offers best use of our resources at a time when costs are rising and the funding we receive from the Scottish Government is reducing.

“The money invested will deliver key projects for local people, including ongoing projects such as: the new £32m West Calder High School, which is West Lothian’s largest ever single investment in education; Whitehill Service Centre in Bathgate, which will modernise the way we deliver services such as recycling; and continued investment in West Lothian’s roads network to ensure it remains one of the best in Scotland.”

A new ten year capital programme is currently being developed to allow the council to take a long-term approach to investment and planning.