National firm ordered to restore field next to West Lothian yard

A national firm has lost an appeal over its expanded yard in West Lothian and been ordered to restore agricultural land.

The firm had an “urgent need” to accommodate plant and construction equipment beside its existing business on a field it owned.

Conversion work in Polbeth included laying hard standing, moving in concrete blocks to secure a road boundary and planting trees to provide extra space – all without obtaining planning permission.

A retrospective application was refused by West Lothian planners earlier this year.

Councillors on the Local Review Body rejected the appeal by Thomas Plant Hire for the temporary conversion of what is classed as agricultural land next to its yard on the edge of an industrial estate in the village.

Councillor Willie Boyle said that, as a national company, it should have been aware of planning rules and obtained permission before starting work.

Agents for the firm said: “The Polbeth site has had an oversupply of plant and equipment in recent months due to an unexpected downturn in demand.

“The applicant, therefore, utilised land within its ownership adjoining the existing yard from November 2024 for temporary storage. It was hoped that this would just be required until February 2025 but a continued pattern of levels of demand below expectations has required the business to continue to use this land for storage.”

The agents added that there had been no objections to the work being carried out.

Planners refused the application and in a report stated: “The proposal constitutes an unjustified encroachment into the designated countryside belt, resulting in a significant adverse impact on the local landscape and loss of biodiversity habitats.

“Further, the proposal undermines the integrity of the natural boundary by eroding the visual and spatial separation between Polbeth and the forthcoming CDA allocation at West Calder, thereby contributing to the coalescence of these settlements. In addition, insufficient surface water drainage information has been submitted to fully assess the proposal.”

Councillor Boyle, for the SNP, expressed doubt that the site would be temporary and said it was evident from the site visit at the extent of the ground works that had been carried out, including the large amount of material that had been brought in to create the hard standing and the concrete blocks.

He added: “I’m really concerned about the level of assumption that has been taken here. This is not some local company that’s looking to establish this itself. It’s a UK wide company with lots of depots. A company this size I would expect to have the experience to know when they need planning permission and when they don’t.

“I really feel that this is a really damning reflection back on the company not knowing their obligations and requirements for planning permission and then bringing forward this as a retrospective application. I would look for reinstatement of the ground back to agricultural use.”

Labour councillor Tom Conn seconded this.

Conservative Councillor Alison Adamson suggested supporting the business with added conditions on the provision of reports, but found no support for her motion.