| AdminHistory | New industrial and commercial development within Livingston could be initiated in a number of ways. Large estates were planned and submitted to the Secretary of State for Scotland as Stage A Submissions under 6(1) of the New Towns (Scotland) 1968 Act. Individual plots, as long as they did not alter the character of those estates, did not need further approval. The Corporation then, could plan new factories as advance units, or could respond to inquiries from companies wanting to locate to Livingston, but who required specialised premises. With the advent of Kirkton Campus, the Corporation gained considerable experience in providing premises suitable for high technology firms, such as the Seagate computer chip plant, which required a cleaniness 1000 times that of an operating theatre.
In the initial Master Plan for Livingston, the town was to be split into districts; ten were to be used for housing whilst four were predominately given over to industry. Prior to 1962 there were just two companies within the designated area - the paper mill of Adam Robertson and Co Ltd, and Roneo Ltd, producers of duplicators. The Master Plan projected providing jobs for 40% of the population, rising to 45% in later years. On initial population projections for the town, that equated to the creation of 45,000 jobs.
To stimulate such rapid growth, and concurrent with marketing strategies and a number of beneficial rates available to companies locating in Livingston, the Development Corporation created a number of industrial estates within the designated area; provided advance factories, so that units were available for occupation at all times; incorporated space for expansion into all plots so that companies could continue; and provided a client management service. The Corporation was extremely unwilling to sell land, and in the vast majority of cases it would only lease factories and commercial premises to tenants.
There were, at the time of wind-up, four major industrial areas within the Designated area. The industrial estates of Houston, Deans and Brucefield, and the technology park at Kirkton Campus; there were also a number of small service units throughout Livingston.
The industrial estates were sold at the wind up of the Corporation, and did not pass into the ownership of West Lothian Council.
Whilst it was the technical departments who were responsible for the planning, design, and the overseeing of the building and maintenance of iindustrial properties, it was the Commercial Directorate who managed the relationship with the tenants and the Legal and Administration department who were responsible for all legal work, such as the preparation of leases and other contractual documentation. |