The 2.88-hectare site sits on land east of the Toll Roundabout in the Kirkton area of Livingston. The site is allocated for residential development in the West Lothian Local Development Plan 2018 (WLLDP 2018).

West Lothian Council uses the proceeds from the sale of unused land to help fund future investment in infrastructure projects, such as schools, parks, roads and care services. The sale of unused assets is therefore an important funding stream that allows the council to continue to invest in other services. Without that funding, less money would be available to improve local services in future.

A number of commercial offers were received for the land and there were no offers or expressions of interest received form the community at the closing date, and no community asset transfer requests have been received by the council for this site.

The offer received from Cruden Homes Limited for £4.90m (gross) is considered to represent the best terms reasonably obtainable by the council.

The site falls within the catchment area for Peel Primary School, Howden St. Andrew’s Primary School, Inveralmond Community High School and St Margaret’s Academy. However any future development on the site would be subject to planning permission being sought and approved, and this takes into account important factors such as available school capacity.

A report prepared by council officers will be presented to the council executive next week and is seeking permission to proceed with the sale of the land. Subject to future planning approval being sought and agreed, Cruden is proposing a development of 77 units, 19 of which would be affordable housing. Cruden confirmed that if it is not able to secure planning permission for their projected 77 units, then it would seek to reduce its original offer on a pro-rata basis.

The Section 75 developer contributions (contributions made by the developer towards the cost of providing local services/infrastructure to meet the needs of the increase in population) will be largely determined by the number of units that Cruden is permitted to build on the site and as such can only be accurately quantified once a detailed planning application has been submitted and approved.

A decision will be made by the council executive next week.