Thursday November 20th 2025
Long term housing plans will see 52 new council or RSL homes built by the end of the decade in Bridgend.
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Stuart Sommerville
Sites for 90 new council homes have been identified in and around Linlithgow.
More than 1,000 new homes could be built by the end of the decade across the county.
But crucial to the plan is whether West Lothian can secure assured funding from Holyrood.
In a report to the council’s Executive, Marjory Mackie, the council’s Housing Strategy & Development Manager outlined plans for the latest Strategic Housing Investment Plan (SHIP), which the council has to update every year until 2028.
The West Lothian Affordable Housing Programme to 2027/28 includes sites for the development of a minimum 1,621 homes, including 383 additional council homes and 1,238 homes delivered by Registered Social Landlords (RSL) partners.
Mrs Mackie told councillors: “The Scottish Government has been unable to confirm the Resource Planning Assumptions (RPAs) for grant availability for the duration of this current SHIP.
“The Resource Planning Assumption (RPA) for 2025/26 from the Scottish Government has been confirmed as £15.376 million, the same as the RPA in 2023/24 but with no indexation this represents a net reduction of 6% in grant funding.”
The report added: “At present the long-term funding position for affordable housing in West Lothian is not yet clear. An overall budget for affordable housing of £4.9 billion over the next 4 years for the whole of Scotland was announced by the Scottish Government in September 2025.
“The uncertainty of long-term funding makes it challenging to prioritise sites that have a funding commitment in future years or require phased funding over a number of years.”
In terms of priority areas, West Lothian Council has 116 units under construction and Wheatley Homes East have a further 74 underway in priority areas Livingston and Linlithgow. There are a further eight sites considered as Priority 1 within this year’s SHIP in the ward areas of Livingston North, Livingston South and Linlithgow.
In Linlithgow various sites have been identified which together could deliver up to 90 homes. These include projected plans for 12 homes at Willowdean, Bridgened starting in 2026 and 40 homes in Auldhill Road starting in 2028/29.
The report said: “There is high demand for housing in Linlithgow with very few development opportunities becoming available. The council is considering development of affordable homes on a number of small sites on council owned land. “
At Whitburn, the development of a distributor road at Heartlands site would help facilitate more development in this area. There is both social and mid-market rent development proposed for Heartlands which could see 246 units delivered.
[mobile_ad_Sc]
The news of the identified sites was welcomed by Linlithgow councillors. Labour’s Tom Conn “I just wanted to welcome the 15 houses being built at Deanburn. They will be occupied in January 2026.
“On the prioirty sites, the two sites in Bridgend which will bring 52 houses. I think these developments would be welcomed in the Linlithgow ward and the communities involved.”
Chairing the meeting, Councillor Lawrence Fitzpatrick highlighted the provision of new wheelchair accessible homes in Kirknewton earlier this year and plans for more properties in Linlithgow and Livingston. He said: “I’m very, very pleased to note the paper which talks about growing provision of wheelchair accessible homes.
“This has been an issue for some time. Last time we had details there were over 300 on the list for wheelchair accessible homes. It’s a delight to see this coming to fruition.”
Tweet Share on Facebook
