Controversial plans to build a new care home in West Lothian may not be decided before Christmas after suffering a third delay.
The proposals would see a quiet cul-de-sac in Linlithgow Bridge turned into an exit road for a building which would loom over neighbours in the adjacent flats.
A decision on the has already been postponed twice after councillors on the Development Management Committee urged the developers, Inuos Developments, to refine the plan and provide more parking.
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They were scheduled to be discussed at the November meeting of the DMC, but councillors were told by planning officer Wendy McCorriston: “The applicants have asked for further time to allow them to address issues raised by the members.”
She gave no indication when the plan would be tabled again. The last meeting of the DMC this year is on 16 December- a week before the council breaks for the Christmas holidays. The first meeting of 2023 is scheduled for 18 January.
Residents in Broomyhill Place had branded the care home proposals as “environmental vandalism” and accused the developers of cramming the sixty bed care home onto the site without adequate parking for staff or visitors. The site next to Broomyhill Place is currently occupied by an empty warehouse store.
Homeowners in Broomyhill Place - many of whom are in their Eighties- fear their peace and quiet will be shattered if the development goes ahead.
They say the new care home will loom over their own four storey blocks and an exit road will turn their quiet tree lined cul-de-sac into a busy road used all hours of the day and night - only a few feet from the windows of their ground floor flats.
Many younger homeowners in the street have already sold up and moved on. The ground floor flats had been chosen by many of the older residents as quiet retirement homes within easy walking distance to amenities such as supermarkets and other shops.
Councillors too were unhappy at the lack of parking outlined in the initial plan which they first debated in August. Many voiced disquiet at planning regulations which stipulate that only one parking space be provided for five members of staff.
The problems in residential streets surrounding St John’s Hospital in Livingston which are often clogged with hospital staff parking their cars, were highlighted. There is no adequate parking at the hospital for staff, patients or visitors.
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