Farmer property firm wins go-ahead for £500m development

SIR Tom Farmer's property firm yesterday hailed the go-ahead for a £500 million redevelopment of a former brickworks in West Lothian as a business park and housing scheme.

Morston Assets - which Farmer jointly owns with property entrepreneur Tom Harrison - has been granted permission by Falkirk Council to build on the old Manuel site at Whitecross, near Linlithgow.

The company plans to build 1,500 houses, a primary school and community facilities.

The project will also include a business park and an enterprise centre, including "incubator" space for new businesses.

Consultants Roger at Tym & Associates estimate that the new facilities could support up to 2,200 jobs if the site is fully let.

Morston Assets claimed that 4,334 temporary construction jobs will be created over the course of the regeneration project, equal to about 454 full-time permanent jobs.

David Dodge, chief executive of Morston Assets, said: "The granting of this permission demonstrates how Falkirk Council and the Whitecross community have accepted the principles behind this project.

"We have worked hard, over a number of years, to promote this scheme and to show how it delivers on our principles."

Falkirk Council also granted planning permission for a "canal-based tourist destination" between the development and the nearby Union Canal.

Plans for the site include a hotel, which the developer claims could create 80 jobs and generate 2m a year for the West Lothian economy.

Demolition has already begun at the former brickworks, with the contract awarded to Sirius Engineering Group.

A new access road between the village and the A801 is due to open in March 2012, with the first of the new homes expected to be occupied in December 2012 and the primary school opening in September 2014.