76-524: Knightsridge is an area of the town of Livingston in West Lothian , Scotland . Knightsridge lies to the north of the town. Not long after the start of the construction of Craigshill and Howden began, the construction of Knightsridge started in 1968 and finished in 1980. Most of the first residents were placed in Knightsridge, Craigshill, Howden and Ladywell . The streets are named after surnames with
152-647: A heart attack and a by-election was called and won by the Labour Jim Devine . Devine was deselected in 2009 after being caught up in the 2009 expenses scandal . Before Brexit , Livingston was part of the Scotland European Parliament constituency . It was represented by six MEPs ; the nearest ones to Livingston were Alyn Smith ( SNP ) and Struan Stevenson ( Conservative ) who were both based in Edinburgh and David Martin ( Labour ) who
228-628: A hospital radio station called Radio Grapevine which broadcasts to St John's Hospital . Livingston is covered by the BBC Scotland and STV Central regions. West Lothian Civic Centre in Livingston is the administrative centre of West Lothian Council . Within West Lothian, Livingston is covered by four multi-member wards each electing four councillors. They are Livingston North, Livingston South, East Livingston, and East Calder wards. Many of
304-613: A weekend Japanese school , is held at St. Margaret's Academy in Livingston. It first opened in 1982 and moved to Livingston in April 2003. Livingston is part of the NHS Lothian region in NHS Scotland . Livingston previously had a psychiatric hospital with a general hospital in the Dechmont area of the town called Bangour Village Hospital . The hospital opened in 1904, and started closing in
380-541: A 50,000-square-foot or 4,600-square-metre hub facility). Other large employers include Tesco (whose distribution centre for Scotland and Northern Ireland is located on the northern edge of the town), Schuh (whose head office and customer service centre is on the Deans Industrial Estate in Livingston), Shin-Etsu Europe (who have a manufacturing facility in Livingston that produces semiconductors ), those in
456-408: A former Burdiehouse limestone quarry and the surname of its owner, Mr Bell. The quarry was in operation by 1782 and continued until the early 20th century, when it was used as a rubbish dump before being tidied and covered. Until the development of the new town, except for localised industry in areas such as Deans, the area was primarily agricultural , with farming focused on the alluvial soils of
532-566: A house called Livingston Place. The estate eventually passed from the Murray family to the Cunningham family and it was eventually acquired by the Earl of Rosebery in 1828 and demolished in 1840. The area of the former gardens and house is now a local garden and park, named Peel park. The formal layout and planting in the park reflect the historic gardens, and a new peel mound and moat was recreated to reflect
608-490: A large number of offices. Private sector offices are also concentrated at the eastern and western edges of the town centre and along the Almondvale Boulevard . Other facilities in the town centre include: hotels, a swimming pool and local authority gym, and restaurants and pubs. Almondvale Football Stadium and West Lothian College are located at the north western edge of the town centre. The Livingston Civic Centre
684-519: A major hub in Scotland's Silicon Glen with factories constructed in purpose-build business parks at Houston Industrial Estate and Kirkton Campus. Like most other areas, this went into a slow decline from the late 1990s with companies including Burroughs Corporation (now Unisys ), Motorola and NEC closing down their factories. Several multi-national companies still have factories in the town, including Wyman Gordon who manufacture aircraft components on
760-408: A much lower than average crime and offense rate which is lower than every city in Scotland, including a crime rate nearly 30% lower than Edinburgh, 64% lower than Glasgow and a third lower than Falkirk. Dishonesty crimes in West Lothian are half that of Edinburgh and violent crime is 72% lower than that of Glasgow. This is possibly attributed to the numerous neighbourhood watch schemes in the area and
836-460: A nationally significant population of protected Great Crested Newts, thought to be to third largest breeding site in Scotland. The site, to the North East of the main thoroughfare of Pumpherston Road, is also home to badgers, wild roe deer, foxes, Soprano pipistrelle bats, 17 species of rare and at danger bird species including Grey partridge, yellowhammers, Skylarks and birds of prey. In all, the area
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#1732883782546912-485: A new railway station was built for the town on the Shotts Line called Livingston South which was shortly followed by another station Livingston North on the redeveloped Edinburgh to Bathgate Line in 1986. These stations replaced the former Livingston and Newpark stations which had closed before the construction of the town. In 1995 Livingston gained its professional football team, Livingston F.C. The first team
988-525: A new supercentre at the other end of the shopping centre in place of the old Woolco store (which had also been used as a Gateway hypermarket before Asda acquired the firm in late-1989). This Asda supercentre is the largest Asda store in Scotland. Until 2016, there was also a large B&Q in the south-west of the town centre, as well as a large Morrisons supermarket which remains open. The Homebase store closed in July 2010 and Argos moved to premises across
1064-532: A quarter of a mile from the A89 , which is a major road running between Greenock in the west of Scotland and Edinburgh in the east of Scotland. A gala day (an outdoor fête ) is held annually, usually in June. Uphall Station has a variety of housing, including old Victorian and Edwardian stone-built cottages, modern housing estates, bungalows and cottages. The cottages were built during the mining days of Uphall Station to house
1140-428: A vaccine against COVID-19 . The Brucefield Industrial Estate is located west of Bellsquarry and includes companies such as Diet Chef (a food manufacturer), ScoMac (a catering equipment manufacturer), and Snag Tights (a textile manufacturer based in Livingston that exports to 90 countries). Alba Business Park is located in Livingston to the west of Adambrae and includes a technology innovation centre. Companies in
1216-553: Is a free local magazine that serves the West Lothian area, including Livingston, with approximately 10,000 copies a month delivered in the Livingston area. Livingston previously had its own Radio Station called River FM that was broadcast from the Almondvale Stadium , from 1 September 2003 until 29 January 2007. Current local radio includes the local BBC station BBC Radio Scotland and local commercial radio including Capital Scotland and 97.3 Forth One . Livingston also has
1292-502: Is based in Livingston. The college has sports facilities, a library, a training restaurant for hospitality students (which was awarded Scottish Restaurant of the Year in 2015 and 2017), and a salon/spa. The college provides educational services to over 8,000 students a year and has 350 staff. The Scottish Institute of Theatre, Dance, Film and Television has its main educational site in Livingston. A local history library which includes items on
1368-632: Is close to the towns of Broxburn to the north-east and Bathgate to the north-west. The town was built around a collection of small villages, Livingston Village , Bellsquarry , and Livingston Station (now part of Deans ). The town has a number of residential areas. These include Craigshill , Howden , Ladywell , Knightsridge , Deans , Dedridge , Murieston , Almondvale , Eliburn , Kirkton , and Adambrae . There are several large industrial estates in Livingston, including Houston industrial estate, Brucefield Industrial Estate, Alba Business Park, and Kirkton Campus. The locality of Livingston as defined by
1444-499: Is for the most part segregated from roads and uses an extensive network of under/over pass systems to keep pedestrians and cyclists away from motorised traffic. Livingston has excellent connections to the central Scotland road network: the M8 bounds Livingston in the north and the A71 in the south; The A899 dual carriageway spine road passes north south along Livingston's eastern edge and connects
1520-454: Is home to over 100 species of animals and many species of wild flowers. The area is open access and currently utilized as arable farmland as well as a training ground for local amphibian welfare charities due to its highly accessible nature by road and rail. Uphall Station has a relatively low crime rate compared with the rest of West Lothian and is therefore considered a safe place to raise children. According to Police Scotland, West Lothian has
1596-523: Is located at the Murieston Shops and is on the Shotts Line and has trains running between Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverley via Shotts . It was opened by British Rail on 6 October 1984. Livingston is 7 miles (11 kilometres) west of Edinburgh Airport and 35 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (57 kilometres) east of Glasgow Airport , both of which have regular flights to British and international destinations. The local newspaper covering Livingston
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#17328837825461672-505: Is now part of Deans . Livingston station was built as a settlement to serve the workforce and their families of the nearby Deans Oil Works, owned by the Pumpherston Oil Company. Livingston Station had six streets with homes, as well as a store, a small church and a works institute. The original Livingston railway station was operated by the Edinburgh and Bathgate Railway and opened on 12 November 1849. British Railways closed
1748-508: Is similar to that of West Lothian in general, characterised by former glacial history and composed of till . This includes areas of clay , sand , silt , and gravel , primarily along the Almond river valley environment. Parts of Livingston also have isolated areas of carboniferous sedimentary rocks (primarily in and around the Deans area of the town) which were worked and extracted for shale oil in
1824-585: Is the West Lothian Courier (published under the Daily Record ). There was previously a Livingston Post newspaper which was stopped in the early 1990s. There was also a newspaper called West Lothian Herald & Post that served Livingston but that ceased to print in July 2011. Dedridge Grapevine was a voluntary community magazine, delivering several thousand copies to houses in and around Dedridge, founded and edited by Kathleen Ross-Hale since 1976. Konect
1900-520: Is the largest town in West Lothian , Scotland . Designated in 1962, it is the fourth post-war new town to be built in Scotland. Taking its name from a village of the same name incorporated into the new town , it was originally developed in the then-counties of Midlothian and West Lothian along the banks of the River Almond . It is situated approximately fifteen miles (25 km) west of Edinburgh and thirty miles (50 km) east of Glasgow , and
1976-638: Is the second-largest settlement in the Lothians, after Edinburgh. Livingston is first mentioned in an early 12th-century charter as Villa Levingi (Leving's town). In 1128, David I granted the newly founded Abbey of Holyrood control of the church at Livingston and its income in a charter that was witnessed by Turstani filii Levingi (Thurstan son of Leving). He built a fortified tower (Livingston Peel) which no longer survives. The settlement that grew up around it became known as Levingstoun, Layingston, and eventually fixed at Livingston. The Leving family controlled
2052-457: The 2024 United Kingdom general election when the seat returned to Labour. It was for the 1983 general election that Livingston gained its own constituency at Westminster . The first MP elected for Livingston was Robin Cook who held the seat for six consecutive elections and held many government positions, most notably Foreign Secretary between 1997 and 2001. In 2005 Robin Cook suddenly died of
2128-556: The General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) includes Uphall Station and Pumpherston . The wider urban settlement, also defined by the GROS, further includes Mid Calder and East Calder . Other neighbouring villages include: Kirknewton , Polbeth and West Calder . The 2001 UK Census reported that the town had a population of 50,826. The 2011 UK Census showed the population of Livingston had increased to 56,269. Livingston
2204-533: The McArthurGlen Designer Outlet Centre). The combined retail spaces of central Livingston form the largest indoor shopping location in Scotland and the 10th largest in the UK. The first phase of the Livingston's shopping centres was completed in 1977 to facilitate the needs of the local residents and workers at The Centre, known as the "Livingston Centre" at that point. The first major refurbishment
2280-789: The Scottish Children's Reporter Administration , Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service , and the West Lothian Community Health and Care Partnership. Livingston has three major shopping centres, three medium large retail parks, and clusters of small local stores located throughout the different areas. The largest shopping centres are 'The Centre' (formerly named the Almondvale Shopping Centre, comprising more than one million square feet or 90,000 square metres of retail space) and Livingston Designer Outlet (the largest outlet mall in Scotland, formerly called
2356-469: The Scottish Gaelic word for the slopes of a hill. Inner central districts in the town include Almondvale , Livingston Village , Eliburn , Howden , Ladywell , Knightsridge , and Dedridge . Ladywell takes its name from a historic well that was dedicated to Mary and was said to have been used by medieval Scottish Kings as a site for a yearly Royal touching ceremony . The geology of Livingston
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2432-796: The Woodland Trust . Central to the community is Knightsridge Primary School and Early Years Centre. The Knightsridge Parents and Staff Association (KPSA) hold many events throughout the year open to all, not just the families and care givers of the children who attend. The school was constructed in 1973. Ogilvie School Campus is a school in Knightsridge for children with severe and complex needs in Livingston. These include complex difficulties, sensory impairments, physical disabilities and autism. 55°54′27″N 3°31′29″W / 55.90750°N 3.52472°W / 55.90750; -3.52472 Livingston, West Lothian Livingston ( Scots : Leivinstoun , Scottish Gaelic : Baile Dhunlèibhe )
2508-519: The 1970s, Kirkton Campus on the western edge of the town was developed as Scotland's first technology science park. Developed for private businesses by the LDC, it included 300 acres of landscaped offices and factory sites along the Killandean Burn and River Almond. Former businesses included Ethicon , Boehringer Mannheim , Canon Business Machines and Seagate Micro Electronics. While these factories on
2584-481: The 1990s. It closed completely in 2004 after the remaining services were transferred to St John's Hospital. Uphall Station Uphall Station is a village located in West Lothian , Scotland. The name is derived from the neighbouring town Uphall on account of the railway station located on the northeast perimeter of the village. The village is situated southeast of Uphall and Broxburn , north of Pumpherston and northeast of Livingston . It lies approximately
2660-487: The 19th and 20th centuries. The oldest rocks are classified as part of the Inverclyde Group (primarily located in the south-east of Livingston between Linhouse Water and Kirknewton). There are also several areas of underlying sandstone in Livingston which were used as local quarries, now since defunct, including Dedridge quarry, refilled and landscaped as a local park (Quarry Froggy Park). Bellsquarry originates from
2736-576: The 20th century. Under the New Towns Act of 1946 , Livingston was designated as a New Town on 16 April 1962 in order to ease overcrowding in Glasgow. Livingston was the fourth new town of five in Scotland; the others were East Kilbride , Glenrothes , Cumbernauld and Irvine . Three villages (Livingston Village and Livingston Station in the old parish of Livingston and Bellsquarry in the parish of Mid Calder) and numerous farmsteads were incorporated into
2812-552: The Alba Business Park include Glenmorangie , the whisky distillers, who have offices and a bottling facility that was opened in 2011. Quintiles IMS , a healthcare data provider, have a large office in the business park. The prosthetic company Össur (Touch Bionics) has a research and development facility in the park. Livingston town centre sits on the southern edge of the Almond Valley and provides shops and services for
2888-624: The Almond river. The area is now primarily an urban area although as a new town, Livingston is characterised by large areas of forested paths, public parks and open spaces. Forested areas in Livingston include Livingston Old Wood (38.97 acres or 15.77 hectares) in Eliburn, the Wilderness in Adambrae (45.91 acres or 18.58 hectares), Bellsquarry Wood (43.86 acres or 17.75 hectares), Kirkton Woods (15.64 acres or 6.33 hectares), Linhouse Glen, and Calder Woods (on
2964-739: The Campus have closed, it is still home to several businesses, including Sky UK who is one of the largest private sector employers in Livingston with a range of offices and their biggest UK contact centre at Kirkton Campus. Other companies at Kirkton Campus include Merck (a pharmaceutical company), Gore W L & Associates (a clothes manufacturer in a triangular plan building built in 1984), Edinburgh Instruments (a molecular spectroscopy instrumentation manufacturer), SCION Instruments (a chromatography and gas detector manufacturer), Techcomp Lab Products (a manufacturer of laboratory instrumentation), JPT Foodtech , and Palletways (a distribution service which owns
3040-542: The Houston Industrial Estate. Other companies on the Houston Industrial Estate include Mitsubishi Electric (who have an electric air conditioning factory which produces almost 150,000 air conditioning and heat pump units every year), Paterson Arran (a food manufacturer whose bakery, the Royal Burgh Bakery is located in Livingston), and DS Smith (who have a box production plant on the estate). From
3116-744: The LDC was the Almondvale Stadium . Housing development continues under West Lothian Council, through private developers such as Barratt Developments and Bellway , and under the management of housing associations such as the Almond Housing Association and the West Lothian Housing Partnership. In September 2021, the town submitted a bid for city status in the United Kingdom as part of the Platinum Jubilee Civic Honours Competition. Although
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3192-547: The Ladies of Livingston and adult education classes. There is a community garden beside the Community Centre. The Vennie is a local youth club that runs community projects focusing on young people (between the ages of 5 and 21 years) in the area. Knightsridge is home to the 12th West Lothian Scout Group . Knightsridge Woods are a 13.07 hectares (32.30 acres) ancient woodland site, consisting primarily of conifers managed by
3268-441: The Livingston new town. Published in July 1962, the first edition of the Livingston plan designated new areas for housing for up to 100,000 people, as well as areas for new industry and offices, marked by new roads, pathways, and recreational spaces, under an 84-square-mile (220-square-kilometre) survey led by Professors Donald Robertson and Sir Robert Matthew . Many of the initial houses were factory-built. A subsequent edition to
3344-520: The McGill's Scotland East website Lothian Country Buses formerly served the area from 2018 offering another bus route to Edinburgh and Livingston from Pumpherston Road. Lothian Country Buses stopped serving the area in November 2022. Uphall rail station is exceptionally popular with Edinburgh commuters with up to four trains an hour from 6am until midnight and the journey taking less than 20 minutes to reach
3420-672: The area seven additional MSPs. Livingston has its own constituency in the House of Commons ; Livingston . It is currently represented by the Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) Gregor Poynton . Livingston for the majority of its existence has returned Labour MPs since the town was founded in 1962. However, in the election of 2015 , the constituency voted in Hannah Bardell of the SNP as their member for Parliament. She remained as MP until
3496-620: The area until dying out in 1512. From 1512 until 1671 the tower house was occupied by the Murrays of Elibank . In 1670, the Edinburgh botanic garden was founded by Dr. Robert Sibbald and Dr. Andrew Balfour using the plant collection from the Elibank private gardens of Sir Patrick Murray, 2nd Lord Elibank , following his death in September 1671. In the late 17th century, the Peel was demolished and replaced by
3572-411: The areas of Howden, Ladywell, and Knightsridge began in the late 1960s and this was followed in the 1970s by the creation of Dedrige and further development of Deans. Some of the first prominent buildings in the new town built in these decades included Riverside Primary School (the first primary school built in the new town in April 1966), Livingston Fire Station (1967 by the architects Bamber & Hall),
3648-406: The boundary with East Calder ). The area where Livingston now sits was historically dominated by oil shale mining , which is evident from the bings which still exist on much of the surrounding landscape. The designation of Livingston as a new town in the 1960s attracted new light industries to the area, with high technology and pharmaceutical companies moving into the town. Livingston formed
3724-536: The development with the construction of McArthur Glen Designer Outlet Centre (reamed as the Livingston Designer Outlet in 2007). This opened in October 2000, with other work continuing into 2002. The Livingston Designer Outlet, contains a VUE multiplex cinema , a food court with many chain fast-food outlets, bars, restaurants, and cafés, as well as around 70 outlet shops. In the early 2000s, Asda constructed
3800-626: The earlier history. The area around Livingston was historically an important shale oil area, and the world's first oil boom occurred in West Lothian. This was based on oil extracted from shale , and by 1870 over 3 million tons of shale were being mined each year in the area around Livingston. Output declined with the discovery of liquid oil reserves around the world in the early 1900s, but shale mining only finally ceased in 1962. The " bings " that characterise oil shale mining in West Lothian have largely been flattened. Two shale bings nearby are scheduled monuments – Five Sisters and Greendykes. By 1898,
3876-680: The eastern edge of Livingston). Livingston North is located adjacent to the Carmondean Shopping Centre between Eliburn and Deans and is on the North Clyde Line . The station opened on 24 March 1986, concurrent with the re-introduction of passenger services on the Edinburgh to Bathgate Line . On 12 December 2010, with the completion of the Airdrie-Bathgate Rail Link , Livingston North is now served by trains running to Glasgow Queen Street and Airdrie . Livingston South
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#17328837825463952-471: The heart of Edinburgh. Commutes to Glasgow are also popular due to the reliable service every 15 minutes. Uphall Station is also ideally situated for Edinburgh Airport which is a short drive or taxi ride away. Within Uphall Station, shops and services include: a small supermarket, local pub with pool and darts hall, a hairdresser salon, a bowling club and an Thai restaurant. West Lothian Council operates
4028-513: The history of Livingston is located in nearby Linlithgow . Livingston has three public libraries which are Almondbank Library in Craigshill, Lanthorn Library in Dedridge, and Carmondean Library in Deans. A local history library which includes items on the history of Livingston is located in nearby Linlithgow . The Scotland Japanese School (スコットランド日本語補習授業校 Sukottorando Nihongo Hoshū Jugyō Kō ),
4104-405: The large mining community, since each property has been extended in different ways, every property is unique and house prices vary. Some cottages have low maintenance yards whilst others have very large (3000sqft/ 300sqm) back gardens. Houses in the area have recently sold for over £300,000 with the new Dundas Estate houses selling for between £250,000 and over £300,000. Uphall Station encompasses
4180-587: The main Livingston village was recorded as having several houses, a mill, a Church of Scotland church, a United Free church, a school, and a coaching inn. The oldest church, Livingston Old Kirk, in its current form, dates from 1732 and is an example of plain Presbetryrian architecture from the Georgian period. It stands on the site of a pre-Reformation church which appears to have stood on the site from c. 1350 – c. 1650 . The nearby coaching inn
4256-607: The namesake of the Almondvale district, runs through the town centre. Outer Livingston districts include Wester Dechmont, Deans (including the Deans Industrial Estate), Kirkton , and Houston to the north, Craigshill to the east, Bellsquarry (including the Brucefield Industrial Estate) and Murieston to the south, and Adambrae and Kirkton Campus to the east of the town. Craigshill takes its name from
4332-548: The new town plan considered the car to be the principal form of transport, it also envisaged a series of core footpaths to connect communities under the Radburn design . In order to build, manage, and promote Livingston, a quango organisation was formed, the Livingston Development Corporation (LDC). Sir David Lowe , a local large scale farmer and businessman, was appointed chairman. Following designation of
4408-559: The new town's first public house (the Tower in Craigshill built in 1968), Craigshill school (the first secondary school built in the new town in 1969), and the 'Centre' (Livingstons shopping centre) built in 1977. Craigshill was said to exemplify the spartan, geometric approach to new town planning, with buildings composed of the Danish style Jesperson blocks and high-density, low-rise concrete homes with Scandinavian style mono-pitch roofs. By 1971,
4484-511: The new town, the first large building begun was the Corporation's own offices in 1963. Residential construction began in 1962 with the first homes to be built as part of the new town being constructed in Deans (to house corporation employees and construction workers). The first major development of the new town took place in Craigshill, with the first people moving into the newly built housing areas in April 1966 at Broom Walk. The construction of
4560-673: The number of affluent commuters who reside in the village. Uphall Station has a population of around 1,026 residents; Uphall Station has a significant proportion of commuters to Edinburgh due to its reputation as a safe commuter village with exceptional links to Edinburgh, Glasgow and other parts of West Lothian through Scotrail, M8 motorway, Lothian Country Buses and McGill's Eastern Scottish buses. There are numerous local taxi companies which can take you to Livingston, Edinburgh airport and Edinburgh as well as further afield. Chartered bus services depart frequently. These are operated by McGill's Eastern Scottish . Timetables can be viewed online at
4636-521: The plan was published in 1966 with Livingston intended as the centre of a new population area of up to 250,000 persons in the Lothians. The new town plan envisaged Livingston as a focal point for economic growth in the Lothian region, incorporating 'overspill' population from Glasgow and Edinburgh. The design incorporated a vision of mixed development, connected by a new series of roads in a grid system by means of grade separated junctions and roundabouts. While
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#17328837825464712-842: The responsibilities of West Lothian Council were previously the responsibility of the Livingston Development Corporation (LDC) until 1997 when the LDC was disbanded. Livingston is in the Almond Valley constituency for the Scottish Parliament , and the Member of the Scottish Parliament is Angela Constance of the Scottish National Party . Livingston is also covered by the Lothian electoral region which gives
4788-416: The retail sector in the shopping centres, supermarkets, and the health care sector such as NHS Scotland . The Witherby Publishing Group , established in 1740, is one of the oldest publishers in the United Kingdom and their offices and warehouse is located in Livingston at Navigation House. Valneva SE is a biotech company that has a manufacturing facility in Livingston which produces vaccines, including
4864-429: The road. The former Homebase and Argos stores were converted into a large Sainsbury's supermarket that opened in December 2010. Also in the town centre are discount supermarkets such as Aldi and Lidl , the latter of which is located beside the Almondvale Stadium. Under the original Livingston plans, neighbourhood shopping centres were to be located at strategic points around the town and the first of these to be built
4940-431: The station on 1 November 1948 following the ending of passenger services on the line. In the 1980s, a site was chosen for a new railway station on the line to the east of the original station and Livingston North station opened on 24 March 1986, concurrent with the re-introduction of passenger services. The Livingston Village and Livingston Station settlements were both subsequently incorporated into Livingston new town in
5016-430: The suffix Way i.e. Davidson Way, Barclay Way, Gordon Way, Robertson Way. The area takes its name from Knightsridge House, a 19th-century farmstead just to the north, whose name itself is derived from Knights Hospitallers of St John who founded the nearby Torphichen Preceptory near Bathgate . The Mosswood Community Centre provides facilities such as dance classes, brownies/cubs/beavers, local community groups, such as
5092-417: The surrounding area. It is bounded by a ring road to the east and has been purposely planned, distinguishing it from many other town centres. Howden Park is located immediately north of the town centre and adjoins Howden House , an 18th-century house which contains an arts centre and private housing. The south western edge of the town centre is dominated by retail parks . Livingston's town centre also contains
5168-416: The town was not successful in being raised to city status, 2022 marked its 60th anniversary as a town. Livingston is the eighth-largest settlement and the third-largest town in Scotland. It is also the 171st largest settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies 30 miles (50 kilometres) from Glasgow and 15 miles (25 kilometres) from Edinburgh . The Livingston new town was planned so that the River Almond ,
5244-418: The town's population had risen to 14,000. On 9 November 1979 the Livingston UFO Incident took place, when Robert Taylor, employed by the Livingston Development Corporation, is said to have encountered a UFO on Dechmont Law and the incident was subsequently investigated by Lothian and Borders Police . It is the only UFO incident that was part of a criminal investigation in the United Kingdom . In 1984,
5320-706: The two; The A89 runs east west on the north side of the M8. Livingston has a central bus terminal with seven stances located on Almondvale Avenue between the two shopping centres in the town centre. This provides regular services to surrounding towns and villages. Lothian Country Buses are the main bus operator in Livingston. Other operators include Citylink , SD Travel, Stuarts of Carluke, and Stagecoach . Livingston has buses to Edinburgh , Edinburgh Airport , Edinburgh Royal Infirmary , Glasgow , Coatbridge , Airdrie , Lanark , Dunfermline , and most West Lothian towns and villages. Livingston has three railway stations; Livingston North , Livingston South and Uphall (on
5396-399: Was The Mall at Craigshill, which claimed to be one of the first covered shopping centres in Scotland. This was followed by the Carmondean Centre in Deans and groupings of shops in Ladywell and Murieston. Livingston has an excellent 'core path network' which is shared use, and available to pedestrians and cyclists. It connects all of the main areas of the town with shopping and work areas. It
5472-580: Was based in Roslin . Livingston used to be part of the Lothians European Parliament constituency . Livingston has 18 nursery schools , 17 primary schools , and five special schools. There are four secondary schools in the town which are Inveralmond Community High School , The James Young High School , St. Margaret's RC Academy and Deans Community High School . West Lothian College offers higher and further education and its central campus
5548-411: Was built in 1760 and the poet Robert Burns is said to have been a guest. The nearby Livingston Mill was also built around the same date, in 1770 although there is evidence that suggests there may have been a mill on the site since the 14th or 15th century. Around one mile (1.5 kilometres) north of Livingston village, there was a railway station with a smaller settlement called Livingston Station which
5624-486: Was completed in 1988 by Land Securities . The centre was extended by 230,000 sq ft (21,000 m ) in 1996/1997, creating phase 2 of the development, bringing the size of the centre to over 550,000 sq ft (51,000 m ). It has since been renamed "The Almondvale Centre". The Centre was completed in its current structure on 16 October 2008. The total development has around 155 shops and eating establishments. In early 1999, construction started on phase 3 of
5700-555: Was completed in June 2009 and officially opened by then- First Minister Alex Salmond on 25 November 2009. The Civic Centre is located just north of The Centre on the bank of the River Almond. It was home to the divisional headquarters of Lothian and Borders Police until the creation of Police Scotland in 2013, as well as the sheriff and justice of the peace , West Lothian Council , the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service ,
5776-512: Was essentially formed from the relocation of Meadowbank Thistle F.C. from Edinburgh. While in 1980, the LDC owned 90% of the town's housing, by 1996 this had reduced to some 40% through sales and increasing private home ownership. The Livingston Development Corporation guided Livingston until its mandate expired on 22 March 1997 and the town was transferred to the West Lothian Council . The last major construction operation carried out by
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