West Lothian can move ahead with preparing its second Local Development Plan after a Scottish Government Reporter found its revised evidence report sufficient. Katrina Rice issued the gatecheck decision on 14th October 2026, clearing a hurdle that had stopped the council’s earlier submission.
The decision concerns the evidence needed to plan future housing, infrastructure and land use across the council area. It does not adopt the new plan or grant permission for particular developments. Residents and landowners will still need to follow the proposed policies and site choices as they emerge.
I would read the West Lothian outcome as permission to progress the planning work, with important tasks still outstanding. The revised evidence proposes an indicative minimum housing land requirement of 10,825 homes for 2028 to 2038, while the Reporter identifies further work on healthcare, open space, landscape and other matters before the proposed plan is prepared.
West Lothian clears the gatecheck on its second attempt
The council’s first evidence report was submitted on 30th July 2025 and returned on 7th November that year because it did not contain enough information. The shortcomings covered housing, Gypsy and Traveller accommodation, links between housing and infrastructure, infrastructure capacity and potential Green Belt designation.
The revised report was resubmitted on 15th July 2026. The new assessment focuses on whether the previous recommendations have been addressed, rather than deciding the final content of the plan. The procedure required no further process beyond the Reporter’s assessment.
In her notification of sufficiency, Katrina Rice says the evidence is sufficient to let the council “proceed to prepare its Local Development Plan”. That is the operative stage now reached. A gatecheck tests the evidence base; the policies and land allocations still have to be developed.
Housing figure falls, but delivery remains ambitious
The revised West Lothian evidence proposes 10,825 homes over the ten-year plan period, compared with 12,500 in the earlier report. The new figure is approximately 10% above the national minimum requirement of 9,850.
Its components include updated household projections, existing housing need, flexibility and an affordable-housing uplift. The council’s ambition to provide 310 affordable homes a year produces a ten-year requirement of 3,100, against an identified affordable supply of 2,156. The resulting 944-home gap informs the uplift.
The Reporter found the calculation more robust and credible than the previous approach. She also accepted it as ambitious and apparently deliverable, taking account of recent delivery and the council’s proposed mechanisms for increasing affordable provision.
That judgement still needs care. The assessment records a ten-year delivery average of 884 homes annually and a five-year average of 948, both below the annualised indicative requirement of about 1,083. More recent building standards records show 1,129 completions in 2025/26.
I would keep the indicative requirement separate from a promise of completed homes. It informs the land and delivery work ahead. The Reporter’s advisories also require updated housing evidence, particularly around the housing need assessment, to support the proposed plan.
Infrastructure must shape the site choices
The West Lothian report now makes clearer links between housing numbers and an infrastructure-first approach. The council says sites will be carried forward where capacity exists or where a credible, funded programme can demonstrate how it will be provided.
New sites are to face both individual and cumulative infrastructure appraisals. That matters for communities concerned that a sequence of smaller developments could together put pressure on schools, roads or health services.
The assessment records capacity for anticipated growth from current housing allocations at 16 of the area’s 20 GP practices. Two require additional capacity, and two need further investigation. The council will continue working with NHS Lothian as the spatial strategy develops.
Those findings do not settle every healthcare concern. The Reporter’s responses acknowledge staffing issues and distinguish them from clinical space. Further work on healthcare capacity and any approach to developer contributions appears in the list of remaining tasks.
On education, the report describes eight major projects delivered during the first plan period and five more in the capital programme. Future site support is to depend on available school capacity or a programme for delivering it, with development funding growth-related requirements.
Green Belt and open-space work is still to follow
West Lothian has commissioned a landscape and countryside-belt review to examine existing countryside belts and the potential for Green Belt designation. The Reporter accepted that the revised evidence adequately explains the work, engagement and links with neighbouring areas.
This gatecheck does not designate land as Green Belt. The review is intended to inform the proposed plan, and objections to specific designations belong at the next stage of preparation. Landowners should therefore follow the emerging boundaries and policy wording rather than treat the evidence-stage assessment as a final designation.
The remaining-work annex also identifies an open-space strategy and play assessment, conservation-area appraisals, a transport appraisal, local-living analysis and landscape sensitivity work for strategic-scale renewable energy. The acceptance of the report is compatible with further evidence being developed.
Gypsy and Traveller accommodation remains another part of that work. The assessment notes progress on exploring negotiated stopping places, which are agreed areas for temporary occupation. It accepts the approach as sufficient for plan progression, while retaining further consideration of accommodation needs as an advisory.
What residents and applicants should watch next
For anyone following the West Lothian plan, the practical next step is to watch the council’s proposed spatial strategy, site assessments and policy consultations. That is where the housing figure, infrastructure evidence and landscape reviews will translate into particular choices.
The Reporter concludes that the previous improvement recommendations have been sufficiently addressed. The distinction is straightforward: the evidence report can now support preparation of the proposed plan, but the plan itself is still ahead.
Read the decision notice and Reporter’s recommendations dated 14th October on the Planning and Environmental Appeals Division case record for GATE-400-2. For a separate issue affecting Scottish housing delivery, see Planning Geek’s report on the Scottish Building Safety Levy.
0 Comments