80-558: West Lothian Civic Centre is a municipal building on Howden South Road in Livingston, West Lothian in Scotland. The building serves as the offices and meeting place of West Lothian Council as well as the venue for hearings of Livingston Sheriff Court. Until the early 21st century, West Lothian Council was based at County Buildings in Linlithgow , which had been built as the headquarters for
160-647: 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
240-628: 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
320-613: 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
400-541: 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
480-599: A clearly visible circular council chamber, and offices for council officers and their staff, to the south, a divisional headquarters for Police Scotland to the centre, and six courtrooms for Livingston Sheriff Court as well as offices for the procurator fiscal and the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration to the north. Linlithgow Sheriff Court , which the complex also replaced, closed in August 2009. Lindsay House and West Lothian House were both demolished shortly after
560-440: A co-operative store by 1885. By 1888, the south village had two rows of houses, comprising 48 tenements that had been erected. By 1914, Pumpherston north village had continued to expand to over 220 houses, as well as a workingmans institute, library, hall and bowling green. The co-operative store building (West Calder Co-Operative) still occupies the corner site in the village and includes a clock tower. The Pumpherston oil works
640-463: A detergent plant. The main refinery closed in 1964 although the detergent plant continued to operate until the earlier 1990s. Most of the former workings have been removed and the area has now been redeveloped as a golf course and new housing. The specific oil shale retort , invented in 1894 and marking the separation of the oil shale industry from the coal industry, is named after the village. There does not seem to be an unambiguous derivation for
720-408: 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
800-490: 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
880-468: 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
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#1732884653033960-485: 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
1040-525: 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
1120-592: 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 the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) includes Uphall Station and Pumpherston . The wider urban settlement, also defined by
1200-428: 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
1280-553: 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
1360-502: 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
1440-499: 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
1520-523: 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
1600-505: 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
1680-435: Is provided at nearby Broxburn Academy . Pumpherston has a variety of sporting amenities including Pumpherston Golf Club, Pumpherston Bowling Club and Recreation Park, the home of Pumpherston Juniors Football Club ( Pumpherston F.C. ). In 2005 Pumpherston United F.C was formed to provide an opportunity for children from Pumpherston and the surrounding areas to take part in regular sporting activities. In only its third year
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#17328846530331760-508: 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
1840-585: 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
1920-457: 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
2000-508: The General Register Office for Scotland (GROS). The village of Uphall Station lies immediately to the north. It is twinned with the village of Mtarfa, Malta. In 1884 the Pumpherston Oil Works was built to extract and product shale oil and the village developed adjacent to the works to house employed staff and their families. Pumpherston was initially divided into two villages, south and north. The north village had 116 homes and
2080-533: 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
2160-730: 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
2240-469: 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
2320-519: 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
2400-555: The 1990s. It closed completely in 2004 after the remaining services were transferred to St John's Hospital. Pumpherston Pumpherston is a village in West Lothian , Scotland. Originally a small industrial village housing works for the nearby shale mine and works, it now forms the eastern part of the new town of Livingston , which was constructed to the west of Pumpherston in the late 1960s and quickly grew to incorporate Pumpherston in its wider urban settlement, as defined by
2480-487: 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
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2560-576: 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
2640-552: 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
2720-624: 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
2800-739: 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
2880-526: The Flemish (Belgian) noblemen invited by King David I and his grandson Malcolm IV to settle in Scotland in the twelfth century ... Pomphray would have been granted the lands north of the Almond in return for serving the king in battle ... around the castle built by Pomphray, probably a wooden structure later replaced by a stone building, would have grown up a little settlement and farm to house and feed his adherents and servants - Pomphray's town. Manu de Pomphray
2960-600: 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 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
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
3120-744: 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
3200-441: 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
3280-550: 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 the earlier history. The area around Livingston
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3360-672: 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
3440-411: 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),
3520-459: 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 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
3600-406: 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
3680-522: The comedian Tony Roper in the 1980s for the Naked Radio show. The name "Dukla Pumpherston" is said to originate from a play entitled "The Broons" held in Pumpherston Scout Hall circa 1982. However, the team now play to raise funds and awareness for various charities. Uphall Station road is the main road through the village. The nearest railway station is Uphall railway station which lies to
3760-536: 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
3840-680: 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
3920-513: 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 ),
4000-587: 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
4080-607: 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
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#17328846530334160-452: The new Civic Centre opened. Livingston, West Lothian Livingston ( Scots : Leivinstoun , Scottish Gaelic : Baile Dhunlèibhe ) 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
4240-548: 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
4320-559: 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,
4400-511: 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
4480-445: 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 the area until dying out in 1512. From 1512 until 1671
4560-474: The north of Pumpherston at Uphall Station village . McGill's Scotland East operate bus service 23 between Broxburn and Whitburn or Shotts via Livingston, St. John's Hospital, Seafield and Blackburn. Kerry McGregor , who had success with many ventures including the Eurovision Song Contest qualifiers and X Factor , as well as acting, came from Pumpherston. The history Pumpherston, the story of
4640-568: The old West Lothian County Council in 1935. However, the council also owned Lindsay House on South Bridge Street, Bathgate , which had been built as the Burgh Chambers for the old Bathgate Town Council in 1966, and West Lothian House on Almondvale Boulevard in Livingston, which had been built as the headquarters of the Livingston Development Corporation in 1981. The council wanted to consolidate its activities at one location:
4720-400: The origin of the name: Various suggestions have been made as to the meaning of the name Pumpherston. One writer suggested it was from 'pamper', a short thickset man; another suggested it was from 'pundler', the official in the middle ages who impounded stray cattle. [A more likely] derivation is from [Brythonic] 'ap Humphrey' meaning son of Humphrey. Pomphray was probably [the name of] one of
4800-521: 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
4880-765: 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
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#17328846530334960-472: 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
5040-541: 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
5120-545: The site it selected was just north of Livingston town centre on the bank of the River Almond . The building was designed by BDP in the Modern style , built by Laing O'Rourke with a steel frame and limestone cladding at a cost of £53 million, and was completed in July 2009. It was officially opened by First Minister , Alex Salmond , on 25 November 2009. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage facing west onto Hochsauerland Brae. The layout involved three main sections:
5200-431: 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
5280-417: 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
5360-434: 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 a house called Livingston Place. The estate eventually passed from
5440-416: 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 ,
5520-418: 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,
5600-706: 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
5680-430: The youth football club achieved an Access Level Award through West Lothian Council 's Community Sports Club Development Scheme. The certificate awarded to the club confirms that Pumpherston United F.C demonstrates appropriate levels of efficiency in Child Protection, Good Coaching Practice, Club Management and First Aid. " Dukla Pumpherston " is a charity football team that originates from a fictional football team used by
5760-510: 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
5840-455: Was a Belgian mercenary who was rewarded for his "deeds" by King Malcolm circa 1130-1145 — Sybil Cavanagh et al. There is evidence of the Roman occupation approximately two miles north east of Pumpherston - at Roman Camp, near Broxburn . Pumpherston shares a primary school, Pumpherston & Uphall Station Community Primary School, with near neighbour Uphall Station . For secondary education
5920-580: 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
6000-411: 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
6080-486: 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
6160-602: 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 ,
6240-512: 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
6320-575: 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,
6400-467: Was later merged into Scottish Oils Ltd , established by Anglo-Persian in 1919 along with four other Scottish oil shale companies (Young's Paraffin Light & Mineral Oil Company, Broxburn Oil Company, Oakbank Oil Company and James Ross & Company Philpstoun Oil Works). The oil works however continued to grow as the principal refinery for the company, with the additions of a cracking plant, brickworks and
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