West Lothian Council urged to do more to encourage house builders to take on brownfield sites

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That was the call from Armadale’s Independent councillor Stuart Borrowman after West Lothian Council’s Planning Committee rejected proposals by Miller Homes to build on a 39 acre site beyond the boundary of the town, in open countryside off a poorly maintained C-class road.

Planners had recommended refusal, citing the potential damage to the amenity of open country and to natural sites such as the neighbouring Black Moss.

The application site is predominantly agricultural fields located on the western side of Armadale to the north and south of the road to Harthill. Stonerigg Farmstead was to be retained as part of the proposals. Adjacent to the Farmstead are six residential properties and a commercial warehouse. The Black Moss Local Biodiversity Site (LBS) is directly adjacent to the north of the site.

One objector, Victoria Mungall, highlighted the dangerous Northrigg road which would be the access to the site, earmarked for a development of 280 homes by Miller in Upper Bathville.

She pointed out that many used the road to travel west, as well as east, and that the roads in the western edge of Armadale closest to Wood Park were often double parked with traffic.

Mrs Mungall also highlighted the pressure on medical facilities in the town. The doctors’ surgery was designed for 10,000 patients and has 13,000. Nearby Blackridge – where many have had to register- is set to close in the Spring.

The pressures on the health service provision were highlighted by Councillor Borrowman and fellow ward member, Labour’s Andrew McGuire.

Councillor Borrowman asked planning officer Wendy McCorriston: “ Is it reasonable to infer that there is no substantial means to get around the disconnect between the 13,000 patients in a practice built for 10,000?”

Mrs McCorriston said that after discussion with the NHS there were no probable mitigations in place.

Asked by councillor Willie Boyle why Miller had not applied for permission to develop brownfield sites in the town, Arthur Mann for the house builder said the firm faced with the costs of decontamination of such sites, could not build homes profitably.

Miller’s representative was thanked for his “candid” answer by Councillor Boyle, and later by Councillor Borrowman when he proposed rejection of the plans.

He backed the planners’ reasons for rejection; for incursion into the countryside and the potential effects on the roads around the site.

He added that the problems of the health provision in the town should also be taken into account. Councillor McGuire backed the motion for refusal and the committee accepted it.

But Councillor Borrowman also suggested that the council should re-examine its policies on brownfield redevelopment given that it had struggled for years to get the site at Lower Bathville, just down the road, redeveloped.

After the meeting Councillor Borrowman told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “It would better serve the community’s aspirations for wider housing choice and environmental improvement if sites such as that at Lower Bathville – where brickmaking took place for 150 years – could be developed.

“That might involve the council tweaking its policies and its developer obligations to make that more likely.

“Building on a barley field close to Edinburgh such as at Winchburgh and on an old brickworks in Armadale are different propositions from an economic and market perspective and that needs more obviously to be taken into account.”

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