An appeal to re-develop a historic corner of a West Lothian town has been rejected by Holyrood, leaving plans deadlocked.
The Scottish Government refused to consent to the demolition of Armadale’s Victorian nursery schools – the oldest of three listed schools on a corner site in the town.
The building’s owner had wanted to flatten the site and sell it on for housing redevelopment.
But a Reporter appointed by The Scottish Government said there was “no evidence” to support a claim that demolition would all “allow for a more beneficial form of development.”
Aileen Mcluckie was appointed by the Division for Planning and Environmental Appeals, (DPEA).
Lucas Land Purchases, the owner of the building appealed in May. West Lothian council’s Development Management Committee voted in March to reject a proposal to clear the site in Academy Street.
The school, on a prominent site in the town, has seen several attempts to demolish it and replace it with a housing development.
In her judgement, to be presented to this week’s meeting of the Development Management Committee on Wednesday, Ms Mcluckie said: “There is a strong presumption in favour of retaining listed buildings, therefore, applications to demolish listed buildings need to be fully justified.
“The former infant school was built around 1878 and is the oldest building in the listed group. It is a single storey building made of sandstone rock-faced rubble in an H-plan with distinct breaking eves dormers.”
She added: “As no parallel planning application has been submitted, or is approved, with formal development proposals for the site or wider area, demolition of the building would leave a vacant site. I do not consider that this would improve the amenity of the area or the setting of the remaining buildings in the listed group.
“In addition, there is no evidence submitted by the appellant to explain why demolition of the building is required to allow for a more beneficial form of development to take place.”
The Reporter also agreed with West Lothian’s planners who had asserted that the site had not been actively marketed for several years.
She said: “Details in the submissions indicate that the site was marketed between 2009 and 2019 but not since, and that the site was not formally advertised but rather it was placed on a website and targeted approaches were made directly to local developers. The appellant states that the last commercial interest was in 2019, this coincides with the last time the site was marketed.
“Based on the evidence I cannot conclude that all reasonable steps have been taken to retain the listed building, notably due to the lack of marketing since 2019 and the limited attempts to secure grant funding.”
by Stuart Sommerville, Local Democracy Reporter
