Tuesday November 3rd 2026
Kirkfield House, West Calder
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Stuart Sommerville
A second plan to build a house in the garden of a West Calder home has gone to appeal.
The Division of Planning and Environmental Appeals (DPEA) is already considering one appeal on plans for the house on Hartwood Road , on the fringe of the village.
Now revised proposals refused last month will be considered by a DPEA- appointed Reporter.
A site visit to the house, Kirkfield, will be carried out and the home-owners Mrs and Mrs Kelly should have a decision by the end of the year.
In modified proposals they want to build a two storey home in the large garden of their existing home so that property can be passed on to family.
The new proposals, which were rejected by West Lothian Council’s Development Management Committee early last month, altered the footprint of the newbuild and protected a boundary line of trees on the road.
That however was not enough to convince the committee to support it. the local ward councillor, Pauline Clark, did think the revised designs deserved the go ahead but could not secure and seconder to her motion of support.
Councillors backed planning officers who said in their report: “The introduction of a dwelling within the front garden of a property at Kirkfield is inappropriate and out of keeping with the spatial pattern of the immediate area.
“Given the established rural pattern, the generous spacing between existing dwellings and the local road, and the size of the application site, the proposal would represent over-development, resulting in a crammed form of development which is uncharacteristic of the area.”
An earlier application was considered and rejected at DMC in April. Papers presented this week to the DMC said: “ the case had been considered by the Development Management Committee on the 15 April 2026 and decided that permission should be refused. Prior to the decision being issued, a non- determination appeal has been submitted to the DPEA and the case is still being considered by DPEA.”
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