Wednesday September 9th 2026
West Lothian Civic Centre
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Stuart Sommerville
Councillors have urged West Lothian Council to press the new Scottish Transport Secretary for a meeting on plans for the new railway station for Winchburgh.
They fear the station has been dropped once more despite being in the election manifesto.
The move comes after the new Transport Secretary Stephen Flynn announced in Holyrood that it was for the Council and Winchburgh Developments to take forward the plans to develop the station .
Labour veteran on the council, Linlithgow’s Tom Conn, pointed out that the council had granted planning permission for the station and Winchburgh developments had committed financially to the project. All that was waiting was a commitment from the Scottish Government.
Councillor Conn was speaking at a meeting of the council’s Economy, Community Empowerment and Wealth Building PDSP in Livingston during a discussion on the City Region Deal, a body which channels public funding into major infrastructure programmes.
The committee heard that a new railway station was not included in the recently published Programme for Government announced by the SNP administration in Holyrood.
Linlithgow Councillor Sally Pattle asked: “The station was not mentioned in the Programme for Government though it was mentioned in the SNPs manifesto. Do you have a time line as to when will the stakeholders be meeting and have you been in touch with Stephen Flynn, the Transport Minister, to request a meeting to discuss the next steps for this long promised unicorn of a railway station?”
Craig McCorriston, the council’s head of Planning and Economic Development, told the meeting that officers had been in touch with the Government to set up a meeting of the steering group. “That is the next stage but no meeting has been set up yet. We are just seeking a date from all members of the steering group.”
He added: “We did have a meeting of the steering group a month ago and there was clearly disappointment that it [the new station] wasn’t referenced in the programme.
“The only thing that I would say is that just because it isn’t mentioned the programme doesn’t mean that it won’t be funded.”
Mr McCorriston said he would hope that any money coming forward for the station might be identified in the Scottish budget coming later in the year.
“So perhaps it’s just an oversight that it was specifically mentioned in the manifesto?” replied Councillor Pattle.
Mr McCorriston said that at a recent meeting of the City Region Deal in East Lothian the council leader there had raised the issue of the development of Winchburgh station with Mr Flynn
Answering a question in Holyrood the Transport Secretary said: “It is important to recognise that it is for West Lothian Council and Winchburgh Developments to take forward construction of a new station, but we are willing to engage with them in that process.”
One commentator suggested this week that plans – having been specifically mentioned in the SNP manifesto before the Scottish elections – had now disappeared into a “black hole”.
Money has been put in place along with a business plan by Winchburgh Developments and planning permission granted by the council. Both the council and the developers await a response on funding from the Scottish Government.
The council granted planning permission for the new station in October last year. A move welcomed at the time by both Winchburgh Developments and Network Rail, the national infrastructure provider.
As the LDRS reported at the time: “The outline business case, which is currently being reviewed by Transport Scotland, shows that the station will have very positive benefits in terms of carbon reduction through a significant reduction in car based journeys.
“Planning consent for the new station, which is located adjacent to the new Winchburgh Town Centre, also includes a park and ride and electric vehicle charging points. The platforms on the Edinburgh – Linlithgow – Glasgow / Stirling line will be capable of accommodating trains of six carriages.”
Winchburgh Developments has committed to the plan having prepared a business case and set aside land for the development of the facility.
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