Plans for new West Lothian shops and tennis courts on site of 'abandoned asylum'

Plans for new shops and a community pavilion on the site of a former abandoned West Lothian asylum are set to be granted.

As well as the ongoing construction of nearly 1,000 new homes at Bangour Village Hospital and the nearby Dechmont, plans were submitted earlier this year for several retail units, replacing several listed buildings.

A new cafe/restaurant could also be constructed on site as well as a community pavilion with tennis courts and an energy centre. With plans already approved for a residential development, West Lothian Council planning officers have recommended proposals for as many as 11 retail units be granted ahead of a meeting next week.

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A summary of the plans included in the meeting's agenda details how some of the site's listed buildings would be demolished and replaced with new structures to house shops and other community facilities.

A district heating plant would also be built and the north and west wings of the boiler house complex at the front of the development site would be retained and redeveloped.

In addition, the listed Honeysuckle Cottage will be retained and extended to form a cafe or restaurant. The existing shop on the site, which is in a state of disrepair, will be demolished and replaced with a community pavilion, designed to reflect the character and key features of the old shop.

Plans were approved in July 2022 to build over 900 homes, a primary school, shops and leisure facilities on the site of the former eerie asylum which was a magnet for urban explorers.

The plans also include a new single stream primary school potentially including the reuse of the hospital’s former recreation hall, repair or replacement of the cricket pavilion and retention of a local village shop.

Before the Village Hospital became the main institution for the county, it formed part of the much larger Edinburgh War Hospital, servicing many patients. The temporary wartime space was highly praised for its burns and plastic surgery unit throughout the Second World War, as it was established in 1940.

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Following this, the Village Hospital was renamed as Bangour General Hospital, and acted mostly as a maternity facility and psychiatric institution. The last remaining ward, the psychiatric ward, closed down in 2004, with locals citing the reason this specific ward staying open was down to the amount of inpatients the asylum held.

Summarising their decision to grant new plans for shops and a central pavilion, council planners wrote: "In summary, the proposal is acceptable in terms of design and layout and will not have any negative impacts on the setting of listed buildings and the Bangour Village Hospital Conservation Area. Further discussion is required in relation to ecology surveys."

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