It's time for Tesco to pay yer bill.Shona McIntosh
The Greens have called on Tesco to pay East Lothian what they owe in a long-running financial dispute with the Council.
Tesco originally pledged to pay an education contribution tied to new housing on land it owned.
Under planning legislation, local authorities can ask housing developers to pay a proportion of money towards schooling to counteract the additional number of families moving into their homes.
However, the East Lothian Courier has revealed that Tesco is now pursuing a lengthy legal battle to avoid paying £400,000 of the contribution despite the firm making £825m in profit during the pandemic.
Shona McIntosh, Acting Co-Convenor of East Lothian Greens said:
To put this into context, the Council received £500,000 from the Scottish government for extra teacher recruitment this academic year to help with the Covid recovery, so it would be a really significant amount for our schools.
Also, when the council announced the budget this year the deputy leader pointed out that the funding available to the council was not keeping pace with the growth in East Lothian and increased demand for services.
Tesco seem to want to profit from the development of land in East Lothian while avoiding contributing to the cost of providing the services here.
It's time for Tesco to pay yer bill.