Wednesday October 15th 2025
Glen Crescent, Livingston
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Stuart Sommerville
Residents in a West Lothian street plagued by speeding drivers have missed out on road safety works for a second year.
Neighbours in Glen Crescent, Livingston, raised a petition last year to be included in the council’s annual £250,000 road improvement projects because of speeding drivers used their street as a ‘rat run’.
That came after the tragic death of a pet dog, sparking safety concerns for local children – but a new study revealed that the street doesn’t meet strict criteria to meet accident reduction demands.
Local Councillor Alison Adamson said she was “ really disappointed” at the decision.
Last year one of the street’s residents, Roddy Hill, called on councillors to support traffic calming measures in his street.
He and his neighbours saw more and more cars using Glen Crescent to avoid using Glen Road, an arterial road in Deans, which has speed bumps.
Mr Hill’s dog, Milo, died after being struck by a speeding driver and Mr Hill voiced concerns to councillors that a child could be killed.
The dog’s death, in April last year, followed a series of near misses and incidents where residents had seen cars clipped and property damaged. Glen Crescent is clearly marked with green ringed advisory 20mph signs and lined with driveways and parked cars.
A report to the Executive said: “Officers have carried out an appropriate investigation for the area detailed in the petition. Using the same methodology as this casualty reduction programme, it was found that proposed traffic calming measures, as requested by the petition, cannot be justified at this time. “
After the Executive agreed the new spending plan for this year, Councillor Adamson, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “I am really disappointed that the Glen Crescent traffic calming measures requested by local residents in a petition have been refused. Whilst I appreciate the investigation report, the data and monitoring over one one day, the evidence is not matched by the lived- in experience of the residents.
“Near miss incidents are not reported or recorded but many of my constituents were able to identify a large number of dangerous situations where they witnessed near misses.
“Sadly, a lovely family pet was killed in the street. It could just as easily have been a child. Speed was the cause in that case. The residents want to slow traffic down on the stretch of road and dissuade “rat running” motorists who try to avoid the traffic calming on Glen Road.
“I will continue to pursue this situation on behalf of the residents who are quite rightly disappointed that their plea for help has been rejected. They have identified a dangerous situation.”
The Executive heard that £250,000 will be spent on road safety improvements around the country including rural roads around Linlithgow and Eccelsmachan, Whitburn, Threemiletown and in Ladywell, Livingston. The work ranges from new and replacement warning signs costing around £5,000 to major resurfacing costing in xcess of £100,000.
Councillors including Lib Dem Sally Pattle and the SNP’s Pauline Orr both expressed concerns that more areas couldn’t be included and more couldn’t be done to make the roads safer.
Councillor Pattle suggested roads officers address local area committees to hear of specific problems and Councillor Orr said constituents had deep concerns about the Ecclesmachan road.
Fellow Linlithgow councillor, Labour’s Tom Conn told the meeting that roads officers could only spend the money they were given by Transport Scotland, and through the council’s capital spending allocation. If more money needed to be spent then more had to come from Holyrood, he said.
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