Planning permission has now been approved for the creation of a memorial garden, co-designed with West Lothian community members, that will be unveiled in September as the project reaches its final stages.
Remembering Together is a national project that seeks to give each of Scotland’s 32 local authorities the chance to reflect their unique experience of the Covid-19 pandemic with the help of commissioned artists and creative organisations.
For West Lothian, West Lothian Council and Greenspace Scotland, with funding from the Scottish Government, have joined in collaboration with local arts organisation Bespoke Atelier to create a living memorial for those that were lost to the virus, and a space for community members to gather and reflect on their pandemic experience.
Ring-fenced funding for the project has been provided by the Scottish Government and Greenspace Scotland.
The garden at Almondvale Park in Livingston town centre has been co-designed with West Lothian community members and is expected to open in Autumn 2024.
Lead artists from Bespoke Atelier, Marion Parola and Yvonne Elliot-Kelllighan, worked extensively with local groups and communities to generate ideas to inform the development of Covid Community Memorials.
Open and accessible public consultations were held around West Lothian, including creative workshops in printmaking, paper collage and textile design, as well as themed walks that involved participants sketching their surroundings.
This aimed to help local residents communicate through creativity, and create a safe space where they could reflect on a particularly difficult time through art.
These in person consultations were then further supplemented with digital surveys made available online to all residents, seeking to discover more about people’s memories of the pandemic – asking questions such as what the pandemic had helped them appreciate more in hindsight.
The final design has been made possible from collaboration with Mike Hyatt of Landscape Architects at Ratho Byres Forge, as well as artist and stone work specialist David Wilson.
The space aims to reflect that residents felt a renewed sense of appreciation for outdoor spaces and community togetherness following the pandemic, and includes a striking feature piece ‘The Ribbon’ with artistic renderings of plants and flowers that symbolise those from the region who passed away as a result of the virus.
‘Exciting proposals’ have been put submitted to West Lothian Council for the delivery of an ambitious £275 million residential-led mixed-use development and relocation of existing farm space to new state of the art facilities.
“Drumshoreland Garden Community”, situated at the current Clapperton poultry farm complex, located east of Livingston, will comprise a vibrant sustainable development of 108 hectares.
This will include open market and affordable housing, employment, educational and other community facilities, delivering hundreds of jobs both in construction and in the completed development. Located within a substantial new parkland setting this includes 19.9 hectares of ancient woodland being given over to public access.
Two applications for planning permission in principle (PPiP) have been submitted to West Lothian Council, aiming to establish the principle of development on the site. A PPiP application has been submitted covering the wider site and the other PPiP will cover an area of land located within the wider site.
The Clapperton site, owned by Amber REI (Agriculture) Ltd, part of Amber REI (Holdings) Ltd, is a key component of the Scottish poultry supply chain but currently comprises ageing poultry sheds and surplus land.
The value realised from the Drumshoreland development could underpin a more than £150 million package of investment back into the Scottish food and agriculture sector, through the company’s poultry supply chain operations.
Current facilities at the Clapperton site will be relocated elsewhere in West Lothian, delivering state-of-the-art operations.
Around 1,800 homes, including 25 per cent affordable homes (c. 450) are proposed as part of Drumshoreland Garden Community and will be brought forward by Elan Homes (Scotland) Ltd, a sister company of Amber REI.
The low carbon community will also serve to address a significant historic housing land supply problem in West Lothian.
Original housing numbers have reduced to accommodate the need for more mixed-use elements which were raised during initial consultation with key local groups.
A wide range of house types, sizes and tenures will be provided, including affordable housing, with the aim of providing a genuine range and choice, establishing a mixed, diverse community from the outset.
Positive initial discussions have already been held with a registered social landlord, Almond Housing Association, with respect to the early planning and ultimate delivery of affordable housing, as well as with Veterans Housing Scotland for some veteran housing on the site.
The development will also seek to embrace the philosophy of “a 20-minute neighbourhood” as promoted by the Scottish Government, where people can meet most of their essential needs within a 20-minute walk. It also means having easy access to greenspace and a local environment that encourages active travel to promote health and wellbeing.
A combination of the Drumshoreland development and other investment across Scotland in the agriculture, food and tourism sectors could see the potential for £425 million (£275 million for Drumshoreland and £150 million across the rest of Scotland) being invested, supporting 5,750 jobs and delivering new state of the art low carbon facilities.
The initial plan is to improve, replace and expand elements of the Scottish poultry supply chain, strengthening this vital and significant rural employer.
This would include:
Investment in new processing facilities at Coupar Angus
Upgrading of feed mill and provision of new hotel at Edinburgh Airport.
A new animal feed mill located in the Central Belt.
New sustainable farming space across West Lothian.
These new state-of-the-art low carbon facilities will create jobs both directly and indirectly through the supply chain. The delivery of these improved facilities will also serve to assist in improving standards in the sector while making a major contribution to the Scottish Government’s target of a net-zero society in terms of greenhouse gas emissions by 2045.
Commenting on the proposals, a spokesperson from Amber REI (Agriculture) said: “We are delighted to be submitting these planning applications to West Lothian Council which follows significant pre-application consultations with the local community and other stakeholders. This could deliver significant investment not only in West Lothian but across Scotland as a whole.
“As an exemplar low carbon community Drumshoreland will not only deliver much-needed housing, including affordable housing, but employment, education and community facilities in a unique parkland setting.
“It would also deliver significant post-COVID investment amounting to more than £150 million into the poultry processing supply chain across Scotland, creating jobs, both directly and indirectly, as well as delivering a low carbon future for the agriculture sector.”
Planning and development consultancy Turley is providing planning, strategic communications, economics, heritage & townscape and sustainability services for the scheme. Masterplanning and placemaking services are being led by OPEN (Optimised Environments) including integrated architecture and landscape disciplines.
