Tuesday April 28th 2026
Winchburgh Road, Livingston
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Stuart Sommerville
Almost 300 new homes were completed in the final three months of 2025 in West Lothian.
But only 15 of those were council or registered social landlord properties – in Winchburgh and Houston Road in Livingston ; the rest of the 291 were built by commercial developers.
Housing officers described a report to the Corporate Policy and Resources PDSP as a “snapshot” and remain upbeat that the longer term council and RSL building programme launched in 2022 is on track to deliver more than 1,600 new homes.
There’s better news in the expected completion over the next year of more than 500 new council and RSL homes across the county.
And a new site containing supported homes for young people is set for completion by the summer. Councillors will be updated on the housebuilding programme in June.
The figures were contained in an economic Horizon Scan report presented to councillors at this month’s Corporate Policy and Resources PDSP.
The report detailed the housebuilding: “House Completions for October to December 2025 were 291 compared to 218 for the same period in 2024.”
“Looking at the breakdown by type of house build, the majority of house builds have been commercial, with 12 council completions and 3 RSL completions. “
The report added: “Progress on the affordable homes programme is reported quarterly to the Housing Services PDSP.
“The most recent report which was presented on 5 February 2026, states that a total of 533 homes are currently under construction across 13 sites in West Lothian. Four sites are being developed by the council, with a total of 128 houses, and nine sites are being developed by RSL’s. Completions are expected across 2025/26 and 2026/27.”
The UK House Price Index showed that the average house price in Scotland increased by 4.9% over the year to December 2025 to stand at £191,000.
A spokesperson for West Lothian Council told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “The council continues to work with Registered Social landlords (RSL) and other development partners to achieve the aims of our affordable housing programme.
“A total of 23 new council homes were completed between October 2025 and December 2025 however this is a very small snapshot of the overall programme, with many homes delivered since the start of the current programme in 2022 with hundreds more homes in development.
“Current approved sites within the programme of council and RSL housing developments will deliver a total of 1,920 additional homes over the programme period, exceeding the original approved minimum target of 1,621 by 18.4%.
“This has been possible due to additional funding, plus confirmation of grant funding for 2025/26 and reflects the strong demand for development of affordable housing in the area.
“Excellent progress is being made in delivery of the programme across the active sites, with a total of 1,386 units completed from the start of the current programme in 2022 to the end of December 2025/26, representing 85.5% of the overall Affordable Housing Programme minimum target of 1,621.”
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