Thursday April 30th 2026
West Lothian Council headquarters
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Stuart Sommerville
West Lothian’s Executive has largely backed Scottish Government proposals on new building as part of a programme to address a national housing crisis.
Councillors agreed with planning officers’ response to a Holyrood consultation as part of the government Housing Action Emergency Plan launched last year.
And they backed cautious recommendations that Holyrood not introduce taxes which punish landowners who stall building programmes. Instead, they say, changes should be more targeted to where genuine problems are stalling building.
The Executive agreed with professional advice that enough legislation already exists to tackle deliberate holding up of building plans.
Planners say issues around infrastructure constraints such as road and service should be addressed and that a greater diversity of housing styles – including a wider range of sizes and bungalows – would encourage the faster build out of affordable homes.
As the LDRS reported earlier this week, the vast majority of new homes delivered in the county in last three months of 2025 were commercial development, with little in the way of affordable homes.
West Lothian was one of the first Scottish local authorities to declare a housing crisis caused by escalating homeless presentation and rising demand.
Some of the problems have been caused by legislative changes such as removing the need to have local connections to the county to qualify for council housing.
Other causes include economic factors such as a shrinking private sector as landlords sell up. West Lothian’s central position between Glasgow and Edinburgh has also pushed demand with the squeeze on city properties.
In a report to the committee planning officer Margaret Stone said: “The consultation aims to address the gap between housing sites that have planning permission and actual homes delivered.
“Depending on the consultation responses, the outcomes may lead to legislative changes at a future session of the Scottish Parliament. “
Ms Stone told councillors: “The introduction of a tax on unbuilt allocated sites or sites with planning consent is not supported. The submission notes that existing mechanisms already address non-delivery, including the lapse of planning permission and the deallocation of sites through the Local Development Plan process.
“A blanket tax approach risks discouraging development and land supply.”
She added: “Instead, the submission advocates for a targeted approach focused on genuinely stalled sites, particularly where planning permission has been technically implemented but development has not progressed.”
In such circumstances, proportionate measures such as council tax on unbuilt units or the potential revocation of planning permission may be appropriate, where delays are within the control of the landowner.
Local planners believe this approach would help unlock infrastructure capacity tied up in inactive sites, enabling deliverable sites to come forward and supporting improved build-out rates.
Crucially, say planners, any new legislation should not add additional enforcement costs to local authorities – a common problem.
The response was agreed without comment.
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