Wednesday June 24th 2026
Midlothian council houses
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Marie Sharp
A call for no more houses to be built in Midlothian until its ‘broken’ infrastructure is fixed was narrowly defeated at a council meeting.
Labour councillors called for the pause on future housing as the council was asked to approve putting its Local Development Plan out for public consultation.
The plan, which covers the next ten years, includes setting aside land for nearly 9,000 new homes to be built in the county over the decade.
At a meeting of full council Councillor Russell Imrie, who chairs its planning committee, called for the plan to go out without any land set aside for housing as he insisted the county could not take any more.
Speaking on behalf of the Labour group Councillor Imrie said the proposals for new housing sites without having schools, health services and transport in place first was “not planning, just hopeful”.
He told the meeting: “We have a responsibility to be honest with the public about what is deliverable and what is not and because of that we have to make it clear that Midlothian can’t take any more housing until the fundamental failures in infrastructure are addressed.
“It is not anti housing and it is not anti growth it is about families, realism and responsibilities because the truth is simple our infrastructure is at breaking point.”
Councillor Imrie said schools were over capacity, road improvements were more than a decade away and GP surgeries were overwhelmed with people unable to get appointments.
And he criticised the developer contributions schemes which see house builders give funding to the local authority to support infrastructure.
He said: “They never cover the full cost and they arrive years after the need arises so the council ends up borrowing millions to fill the gap.
“The public is subsidising private developments and it is unacceptable. We can’t put the houses through until we get the infrastructure.”
He was backed by Councillor Derek Milligan who said the infrastructure in the county was ‘past broken’.
He said: “If we do not stop any further house building until we get the infrastructure right the we are absolutely failing people in the future.”
However council leader Kelly Parry said while she had sympathy for the comments from both councillors the situation was more complex.
She said: “We have had huge growth in Midlothian and does it have consequences? Yes it does. However we do have a waiting list in Midlothian, we do have people living in cramped conditions.
“We have lots of people who can’t afford to buy and I always say to people who suggest we don’t build any more houses did you have children and where do you expect them to live because I really want my children to grow up and live in Midlothian and at the moment they just can’t.
“I do think where possible we should take an infrastructure first approach however I would throw caution against simply saying we can’t build any more houses and moving against this paper because what that would do is throw the decision open to people who are not in this chamber.”
Peter Arnsdorf the council’s planning chief warned that if the council did not identify sites for housing in its Local Development Plan then it could fall to the Scottish Government reporters to make the decision adding “It is currently in your control but if the council does not do its legal duty the control falls to the Scottish Government.”
Councillors approved the plan going out to public consultation with the housing land remaining in it by nine votes to eight.
Councillors backing the plan with housing included were Dianne Alexander, Douglas Bowen, Colin Cassidy, Debbi McCall, Stuart McKenzie, Connor McManus, Kelly Parry, Ellen Scott and David Virgo.
Councillors backing the removal of the housing land were Stephen Curran, Russell Imrie, Willie McEwan, Derek Milligan, Bryan Pottinger, Margot Russell, Peter Smaill and Pauline Winchester.
You can watch the councillors discussing the plan at the Midlothian Council meeting yesterday (Tuesday 23rd June 2026) in the video below. The video gives you a good idea of the issues involved.
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