Councillors have backed plans to open a sports injury clinic on a Bathgate industrial estate.
Planners had recommended refusal, saying the clinic would be more suited to a town centre location.
However, the chair of the Development Management Committee (DMC) Councillor Harry Cartmill said that many industrial units lie empty and the plan would put the building to “a humanitarian use to help local people.”
The industrial estate at Standhill Industrial Park, on Whitburn Road, already has a gym next door to the former office of a haulage unit Kerry Emms wants to convert.
There is also a soft play facility directly opposite as well as a dance studio and a martial arts unit based there.
Planning officer Gillian Cyphus outlined reasons for recommending refusal which include protection of industrial land for jobs and poor public transport links.
There were no public objections to the plan.
Ms Emms told a meeting of the DMC she understood the council’s desire to protect land for employment but asked councillors to reconsider the policy.
She said that the previous business had offered a workplace to one person whereas her planned clinic potentially offered workspace to five therapists working to rehabilitate people of all ages- not just those recovering from sports injuries.
“I work with people of different ages to support mobility and strength to build up strength before and following surgery.
“I support people to return to work. I also work with people with other disabilities and conditions including MS ADHD and Alzheimer’s, offering individual support,” Ms Emms told the meeting.
She added that people recovering from illness or injury can become quite isolated. She hoped to create an environment for rehabilitation and social interaction in a “ supported exercise community”.
Ms Emms told councillors: “There is a social benefit. Injury, illness or disability can result in people being less physically active and more socially isolated.”
Conservative group leader councillor Damian Doran-Timson: “I’m always loathe to dispute what our planners suggested, and quite rightly there are rules set out. But I think this application is fitting for the surroundings.”
The application was also supported by SNP councillor Pauline Clark and Labour councillor Tony Boyle
Chair of the meeting, Bathgate councillor Harry Cartmill said he was prepared to back the application he said that the rules of town centre sites because of public transport access was questionable.
“My inbox is full of people complaining about trying to get buses in the town centre and there is ample parking at the site we saw on the visit.”
He pointed out that many units were lying empty, and the presence of the soft play centre and dance studio already demonstrated a mixed use rather than purely industrial.
“I think this application puts this unit to a good use, a humanitarian use that will help the people in the local community.”
By Stuart Sommerville, Local Democracy Reporter
