Shop Occupancy
There was an increase in overall shop occupancy, compared to the previous quarter last year, in three of the town
centres with Broxburn increasing its shop
occupancy by 3.5% to stand at 94.0%. Linlithgow retains its position as the town with the highest occupancy although decreased by 1.3% on the same quarter of last year. Compared to the same quarter last year, both Armadale and Bathgate decreased in overall occupancy: with respective decreases of 1.4% and 0.7%. Whitburn increased its shop occupancy, however, it has the lowest shop occupancy rate in West Lothian at 82.9%. The total shop occupancy of 92% for West Lothian is well above both the Scotland and UK occupancy rates of between 85% and 88% (ATCM May/June 2011 & The Local Data Company, Sept 2012).
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Vacant Shop Units
The average shop vacancy rates for the years 2005 to 2008 have been calculated for each of the five traditional town centres. The highest vacancy rates were experienced by Whitburn (7.7%) and Armadale (7.61%), followed by lower but similar rates for Broxburn (5.62%) and Bathgate (5.47%) with Linlithgow (3.06%) having the lowest rate. 
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