It is now ten years since a proposal was first put forward to build an out-of-town supermarket at Boghall East on Blackness Road. The strong and immediate opposition to such an unwelcome development led to the launch of the campaign group, Linlithgow Against Supermarket Development. No planning application was ever lodged for the Boghall East proposal but, two years later, a new and equally unwelcome proposal was put forward for a supermarket at Burghmuir. More than 1,000 people lodged objections with the Council and, only hours before it was due to be decided by West Lothian Council, the proposal was withdrawn. In the ten years since the first proposal, the supermarket sector has changed substantially and it now seems very unlikely that proposals will be advanced for  inappropriate out-of-town development in Linlithgow in the foreseeable future. Accordingly, the Linlithgow Against Supermarket Development campaign has been ended. I am very grateful to the many people who actively supported the campaign and, in particular, to the campaign secretary, Elizabeth Bryan, and the treasurer, Lynne Sneddon and also to Chris Dewar, who has maintained the website and group mailing list facility. I also wish to express my appreciation of the unfailing courtesy and helpfulness of the West Lothian councillors and the Council planning officers, as well as the various MPs and MSPs with whom we were in contact. I am also very grateful to the Black Bitch magazine for its informative editorial coverage of the campaign.

Yours etc,
Nicholas Leonard, former chairman, LASD