Page 4 - 364377 LP243022 BB Magazine 32pp A4 (July 2022)

4 BLACK BITCH ISSUE 91 JULY 2022
THE LINLITHGOW ‘LOCAL PLACE PLAN’ EXHIBITION IS OVER – WHAT’S NEXT?
The planning articles in the last three editions of the Black Bitch have introduced the launch of ‘Local Place Plans’ in West Lothian, the objective of which is to encourage residents of local communities to take an interest in those planning issues that have significant impact on their town.
The first article in March introduced the changes to planning legislation to incorporate Local Place Plans, the second in April sought views on housing and the last article in May introduced the discussion on plans for the High Street.
Solar power for a sustainable future.
All three articles led to an exhibition held in the Burgh Halls on 16 and 21 June to allow public scrutiny of a draft plan prepared by the Linlithgow Planning Forum. Both days were well attended, the last day particularly so with up to 30 people at any one time studying the exhibition displays and sitting at tables working their way through the draft plans for the future of Linlithgow.
The large number of questionnaire responses and comments from the exhibition will be processed during July to collate the consensus views of those who attended. These responses will give a sound basis for Linlithgow’s Local Place Plan.
Based on conversations with those who attended the exhibition and a preliminary glance at the comments on the questionnaires, the primary issue which leaps out of the pages is infrastructure, summarised in one respondent’s comment “my main thoughts are that town infrastructure needs to be in place before major housing developments start, as houses are built far quicker than roads, etc”.
Some of the comments pose challenges to the Planning Forum in drafting the local place plan for example:
>>Content: “Theexhibitionraisesamixofdevelopmentand non-development issues which need separated out”. Although there has been a recent decrease in Linlithgow’s population, any new development would reverse this trend and cause further stress on community services which would need to be catered for.
COMMUNITY ///