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Scotsman
a day ago
- Business
- Scotsman
West Lothian could see another 12.500 new homes by 2038
West Lothian could see another 12,500 homes built in the decade to 2038. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... And communities have told planners that a more diverse choice of homes – including more bungalows- are needed to meet the needs of an ageing population. A full meeting of West Lothian council agreed to approve the first stage of a new Local Development Plan as a blueprint for the future look of communities. Wet Lothian could see another 12,500 homesby 2038 Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad National planning demands call for West Lothian to have another 9.850 homes by 2038, but planners raised that to more than 12,000 , having accepted community calls for greater diversity of house styles, including more bungalows as well as more smaller homes to allow downsizing among a growing elderly population. There has also been a call for more affordable housing. This initial stage known as the Evidence Report now goes to the Scottish Government for approval. It sets out where development should take place and what is needed to accompany that development. Councillors gave cautious welcome to the proposals but aired concerns about health care provision and transport infrastructure, both of which dominate the conversation on existing housing development proposals. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Earlier worries that they would not have enough time to work through the hefty document's 1,000 plus pages were allayed. Linlithgow Lib Dem Sally Pattle had, at a recent meeting, warned that developers would be 'watching us like hawks' as she stressed the need for councillors to 'get things right' in the plan. She told the meeting: ' After being slightly alarmed a couple weeks ago I'm pleased to say I have had some really good discussions with officers. I am now reassured that we have to get this evidence report in I understand the tightness of the timescales we are up against I also have been reassured that we just at the beginning of this process.' Proposing a motion accepting the paper, council leader Lawrence Fitzpatrick said; ' We are taking a big step forward; it has required a significant amount of work by council officers. I'm glad to note there has been massive interaction between officers and councillors with regard to queries. I move that we accept the recommendation which includes the corrections to be included.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Planning officers stressed that the evidence gathering had consulted communities on their hopes and expectations for the future. The finalised Local Development Plan which has to be in place for 2028 should reflect those community demands. A West Lothian Council spokesperson said: 'We would like to thank everyone who engaged in the process that has enabled planning officers to prepare this evidence report. It is important to stress this is an early point in the process of creating a new Local Development Plan for West Lothian. 'Completion of this gate check process will then allow planning officers to prepare the first draft of the new local development plan for West Lothian. This process will once again require extensive engagement with key stakeholders and local communities and the council will once again be calling on members of the public to participate. Details of how you can get involved will be shared in due course.'
Spectator
a day ago
- Politics
- Spectator
They will say this was ‘parliament at its best'. And they will be lying
The portents this morning were grim. The Grim Leadreaper was doing her HR manager of Hades act, buzzing around with faux sincerity like a wasp that had discovered LGBT History Month. Jess Philips took a great huff on her vape in the lobby before walking into the chamber. Perhaps it was sulphur flavour. Inside the House of Commons the obviously sham last-minute 'switcher' Jack Abbott from the bill committee, as spineless a backbench toady as you ever did see, was there being all chummy with the unparalleled toad Jake Richards. Were they bonding perhaps over their new-found enthusiasm for death? It was Brokeback Mountain meets The Zone of Interest. Voting began on amendments. A glut of ambitious backbench MPs rejected a safeguard brought forward by a coalition of MPs as diverse as Dame Karen Bradley for the Tories, Jim Allister for the TUV and brave and doughty Labour MPs Rachel Maskell and Jonathan Davies. It was designed to stop people from killing themselves because they felt like a burden. Then Leadbeater herself spoke. 'It's not often that we get to debate morality issues in parliament', she said; just three days after parliament voted to decriminalise abortion up to birth via a sneakily tacked-on amendment and a few minutes of debate. The Leisure Centre operative turned supreme arbiter of life and death likes to talk about how she and her bill represent 'parliament at its best'. The irony being that anyone who truly believes this would fail any reasonable capacity test. The concerns of the key royal colleges of experts, who'd made repeated interventions in opposition to the bill, were shrugged off as 'different views'. Wera Hobhouse, the Lib Dem MP for Bath complained that some members of the public had suggested that the current crop of MPs were too stupid to discuss an issue of this magnitude. For all their faults sometimes the General Public really do hit the nail on the head. Not only were many demonstrably too stupid to engage properly, some of them couldn't even be bothered to stay awake. Wearing a pair of dark glasses, Lib Dem MP Tessa Munt openly dozed through several speeches. Certain moments added to the general atmosphere of despair. Jake Richards rolled his eyes and performatively scoffed as Naz Shah explained the bill's failure to close the anorexia loophole. Labour MP Lewis Atkinson commended the work of the hospice movement in alleviating suffering at the end of life. His praise was treacly, sweet and insincere. Almost diabetes-inducing in its efforts – another disease which will no doubt qualify for state sanctioned death in due time. While scrutinising the bill on the committee, the same Lewis Atkinson also rejected conscience amendments that would have prevented hospices and care homes from being forced to provide assisted dying The walking embodiment of the banality of evil, Lib Dem MP Luke Taylor said that voting in favour was a good way to 'bookend the week'. That's the level of import MPs gave to this issue of life and death: bump off the weak to bookend your week. Many impassioned MPs never got to speak at all; Rosie Duffield left the chamber in disgust after trying to catch the Deputy Speaker's eye for several hours, with no success. There was some debate about whether the Prime Minister – a long term death enthusiast – would turn up to vote. In the end, he did. It was nice of Esther Rantzen to send her own personal proxy. Bump off the weak to bookend your week It's worth naming those Labour MPs who have gone above and beyond in their attempts to make their colleagues see sense. Those, like Rachael Maskell, who worked behind the scenes to try and put down amendments that would safeguard the vulnerable. Jess Asato, who made probably the best and most forensic speech of the debate. Diane Abbott who, despite obvious illness, rose to speak movingly about the risks of compulsion. And Adam Jogee, who left a dying relative's bedside to come and vote because the bill's 'compassionate' proposer refused to find him a supporter to pair with and so spend the last moments he had with a loved one. Do remember them: they have been principled exceptions to the otherwise disgraceful rule. Given we are now a culture which embraces and promotes death, perhaps a post-script on political deaths. When the inevitable national inquiry delves into the abuse and shortcomings of this law – which it will – the Labour backbenchers and Tory grandees who made this possible, these back-slapping middle-management Molochs will have their names etched in history as the people who brought this about. They will achieve a sort of immortality; just not as the progressive liberators they vainly imagine themselves to be. Secondly, while much has been written about the impending death of the Tory party, what seems to have gone unnoticed is the death of Labour as well. What once made claims to be the party of working people, a force in politics on the side of the needy and the vulnerable, has in just under a year become a death cult for comfortable progressives. The tragedy is that they will drag down the very people they purport to protect with them.
ITV News
a day ago
- Health
- ITV News
How did the MPs from the Border region vote in the Assisted Dying Bill?
MPs have voted in favour of the assisted dying bill which will legalise the right for terminally ill people in England and Wales to end their own life with medical assistance. In a historic vote, MPs voted 314 to 291 in favour of the bill, backing the right for adults with less than six months to live to choose to end their own lives. The bill was brought forward by Labour backbencher Kim Leadbeater and MPs began voting after 2pm on Friday. How did MPs in the Border region vote? Josh MacAlister MP for Whitehaven and Workington was the only MP from our region who voted in favour of the bill. Fellow Labour MP Julie Minns for Carlisle did not vote on the bill. The MPs opposed to the bill in our region were Labour's Markus Campbell Savours, the Lib Dem's Tim Farron and John Cooper, John Lamont and David Mundell from the Conservatives. The full voting list can be found here. Friday's vote does not mean the bill immediately becomes law as it will now transfer to the House of Lords for further scrutiny. The upper chamber can make amendments to the bill and pass it back to MPs but it is expected this process will happen fairly quickly as the final date they can currently consider a Private Members' Bill in this parliamentary session is 11 July.
Daily Record
2 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Record
West Lothian could see another 12,500 homes built by 2038 under development plan
A full meeting of West Lothian Council agreed to approve the first stage of a new Local Development Plan as a blueprint for the future look of communities. West Lothian could see another 12,500 homes built in the decade to 2038. And communities have told planners that a more diverse choice of homes - including more bungalows- are needed to meet the needs of an ageing population. A full meeting of West Lothian council agreed to approve the first stage of a new Local Development Plan as a blueprint for the future look of communities. National planning demands call for West Lothian to have another 9.850 homes by 2038 but planners raised that to more than 12,000 having accepted community calls for greater diversity of house styles, including more bungalows as well as more smaller homes to allow downsizing among a growing elderly population. There has also been a call for more affordable housing. This initial stage known as the Evidence Report now goes to the Scottish Government for approval. It sets out where development should take place and what is needed to accompany that development. Councillors gave cautious welcome to the proposals but aired concerns about health care provision and transport infrastructure, both of which dominate the conversation on existing housing development proposals. Earlier worries that they would not have enough time to work through the hefty document's 1,000 plus pages were allayed. Linlithgow Lib Dem Sally Pattle had, at a recent meeting, warned that developers ' would be watching us like hawks' as she stressed the need for councillors to 'get things right' in the plan. She told the meeting: ' After being slightly alarmed a couple weeks ago I'm pleased to say I have had some really good discussions with officers and I really wanted to say extend my thanks for the time that they have provided me with in the last couple of weeks so that I understood the process and am a lot clearer about what is going happen going forward. 'I am now reassured that we have to get this evidence report in I understand the tightness of the timescales we are up against I also have been reassured that we just at the beginning of this process. 'As long as we all keep working together we'll be able to get there with the best outcome for West Lothian so thank you very much.' Proposing a motion accepting the paper council leader Lawrence Fitzpatrick said; ' We are taking a big step forward; it has required a significant amount of work by council officers. I'm glad to note there has been massive interaction between officers and councillors with regard to queries. I move that we accept the recommendation which includes the corrections to be included.' Planning officers stressed that the Evidence gathering had consulted communities on their hopes and expectations for the future. The final Local Development Plan which has to be in place for 2028 should reflect those community demands. A West Lothian Council spokesperson said: 'We would like to thank everyone who engaged in the process that has enabled planning officers to prepare this evidence report. It is important to stress this is an early point in the process of creating a new Local Development Plan for West Lothian. 'Completion of this gate check process will then allow planning officers to prepare the first draft of the new local development plan for West Lothian. This process will once again require extensive engagement with key stakeholders and local communities and the council will once again be calling on members of the public to participate. Details of how you can get involved will be shared in due course.'
The National
2 days ago
- Politics
- The National
UK Government urged to publish legal advice on joining war on Iran
Lord Hermer warned that UK involvement beyond defending Israel, which started the war with a wave of strikes on Friday, would be illegal under international law, The Spectator reports. LibDem leader Ed Davey has urged the UK Government to publish his advice, adding: 'The last thing we need is for the UK to be dragged into another illegal war in the Middle East by the US.' The Attorney General was said to have 'concerns about the UK playing any role in this except for defending our allies', according to a source who spoke to The Spectator. It comes as the UK awaits Donald Trump's next move as he failed to confirm whether America would join Israel in bombing Iran. Asked about reports that Trump had approved a plan to attack Iran but not yet ordered strikes, the Prime Minister said: 'Obviously all of us, UK included, are very concerned about the nuclear programme that Iran is developing, we've long been concerned about that. Also, [we] completely recognise Israel's right to self-defence, but the principle is that we need to de-escalate this. 'There's a real risk of escalation here that will impact the region, possibly beyond the region, akin to Gaza, and obviously it's already having an impact on the economy. So I've been absolutely clear we need to de-escalate this. Yes, the nuclear issue has to be dealt with, but it's better dealt with by way of negotiations than by way of conflict.' David Lammy (below) flew to the US on Thursday to meet his American counterpart Marco Rubio, with Whitehall sources telling The Guardian the UK's priorities were diplomacy and de-escalation. Starmer convened a Cobra meeting on Wednesday and is considering both whether to support US strikes on Iran and whether to approve the use of the Diego Garcia military base in the Chagos Islands for attacks. A spokesperson for the attorney general's office said: 'By longstanding convention, reflected in the ministerial code, [the question of] whether the law officers have been asked to provide legal advice and the content of any advice is not routinely disclosed. The convention provides the fullest guarantee that government business will be conducted at all times in light of thorough and candid legal advice.' Labour's Emily Thornberry, chair of the foreign affairs select committee, said going to war with Iran would not be 'justifiable'. Speaking on BBC Radio 4's World at One, she added: 'I think the only way in which we are going to solve this matter is through negotiations.'
