Thursday June 5th 2025
West Lothian Civic Centre
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Stuart Sommerville
Seven communities in West Lothian had no council homes available for the first three months of the year, it has emerged.
Turnover of West Lothian’s social housing dropped at the start of the year, a report revealed.
This left seven communities with no available homes, while seven more only saw one house come up for let. Most lets were two bedroom while demand is rising for larger homes.
Councillors on the Housing Services PDSP heard that 130 homes were let between January and the end of March compared to 177 in the same period of 2024.
In a report to the committee Sarah Kelly, Housing Need Manager said: “This decrease in available lets is a result of there being a lower turnover of properties overall, and repairs work being completed in more void properties compared to the same quarter last year.”
During 2024/25 there were seven communities with no lets recorded – Bellsquarry, Craigshill, Ecclesmachen, Newton, Philipstoun, The Riggs and Threemiletown.
In the first three months of the year seven communities had one mainstream property available to let – Breich, East Calder, Linlithgow, Linlithgow Bridge, Seafield, Stoneyburn and Westfield.
The communities with the highest percentage of total lets were Armadale with 17 lets (13.5%); Bathgate with 13 lets (12%); and Fauldhouse with 10 lets (8%).
Of the 130 lets across the county 79 went to homeless people.
The majority of properties that were available for letting in the three months were Cottage types 54 followed by Four in a Block at 39 and Flats at 20.
There were also 10 Maisonettes and 7 Sheltered Housing lets.
In terms of property size, 46% of the lets were two-bedroom properties (60 Lets); 38% were one-bedroom properties (50 lets); 15% were three-bedroom properties (20 Lets); and there were no four or five-bedroom properties let during the quarter.
Answering a question from committee chair, Councillor George Paul, Ms Kelly said that demand for larger homes was growing compared to the numbers of larger homes available on the council stock.
Earlier this year the LDRS revealed that out of 14,000 council homes in the county fewer than 700 have four or more bedrooms.
In some cases demand is growing because generations are living under the same roof.
West Lothian has dozens of post war housing estates, such as Boghall and Glemnmavis in Bathgate, which included bigger homes reflecting the demand from larger families in the 1940s but, in general, housing sizes have shrunk in the last 70 years.
A spokesperson told the LDRS: “There has been a rise in demand for larger homes in West Lothian in recent years.
“Homeless presentations and applications for housing show that this demand stems from a range of reasons, such as an increased number of families with more than three children, extended families of three generations or more living together, and more blended families with children from previous households.
“Currently only a small percentage of our 14,000 housing stock are larger homes, with 505 four bedroom homes and 155 five bedrooms or more. This means that less than 5% of all our council homes are four bedrooms or more, and are less likely to become available than smaller homes.”
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