Wednesday November 26th 2025
Save Kippielaw campaigners
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
A community group’s ‘Save Kippielaw’ campaign have won their fight against a new housing development on Kippielaw Farm after the proposed area was taken off Midlothian’s Local Development Plan at a council planning meeting last Tuesday.
Receiving support from politicians, alongside over 2000 objections from the local community, the site will not be included in the proposed plan either as an allocated site for development within the next 10 years or as a long-term site for development beyond 10 years.
Relaunched on the 3rd of September at the Mayfield and Easthouses Community Council meeting, the campaign group aimed to persuade the Midlothian council to not allocate the Kippielaw site for development either in the short term or long term.
Due to their efforts that included gaining support of local politicians alongside highlighting the areas importance through wildlife photography, the campaign groups efforts have paid off with the plan for 300 to 500 houses in what the group explained as ‘all remaining green fields between the communities of Dalkeith and Easthouses’ being put to an end.
After meeting last Tuesday at Midlothian Council’s Planning Committee meeting, the council planning department will now draft the proposed plan over the next few months to be ready for approval by the full council in Spring 2026.
Stephen Liddell of the campaign group said:
“We are delighted and relieved that Kippielaw will remain as agricultural land and continue to be enjoyed by the local communities as the only remaining area of countryside separating Dalkeith from Mayfield & Easthouses.”
Despite the campaign group’s efforts paying off, there are still a number of important steps in the plan preparation process that will follow agreement of the proposed plan, including public consultation, modification following the consultation and examination by the Scottish Government.
During the modification and examination stages, there is still scope for changes to be made to the plan prior to final adoption by the Council in 2027.
Stephen explained: “The campaign group will keep our community informed through the Save Kippielaw Facebook Page as the Local Development Plan progresses. Obviously we need to remain alert to further attacks and ready to respond should the need arise again in the future.”
It was the third time since 2014 that the site had been under threat by planned housing developments. This most recent time the Council Planning Department originally decided to not shortlist the site, preferring not to allocate greenfield sites. However, the Kippielaw site was prompted again by a developer where it received support from one of three local councillors, which resulted in the site being added to the shortlist.
In a letter sent to supporters of the campaign, such as Kirsty McNeil MP and Colin Beattie MSP, the campaign group explained:
“The Campaign Group would like to thank each of you for supporting us over the last few months. Combined with over 2,000 objections from our local community, you have contributed massively to keeping Kippielaw out of the Proposed Plan and demonstrate that local democracy can win the day.”
Stephen added: “The community response has been overwhelming. Local people are deeply concerned about the potential impact on Kippielaw’s wildlife, loss of community identity, strain on local infrastructure and public services unable to cope with the increasing number of new residents.
“The Planning Department did not shortlist this site. The Planning Committee did not vote for it to be included. And the local community have made their opposition very clear yet again.
“The only people supporting this new private housing scheme are the the Developer and Councillor McKenzie. Hopefully they have now got the message.”
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