Construction of a care home on a derelict site near Cupar has been ruled out.
It was claimed the facility would have created 50 jobs and met growing demand for residential care for the elderly in an area where existing homes have few vacancies. But a Scottish Government reporter has refused planning permission for the project in Cupar Muir.
Applicant Neil Munro, of Falkland, wanted to build the 52-bed home and 19 houses and flats in a former walled garden at Trynmuir Croft.
Backing Fife Council’s earlier rejection of the scheme, reporter John Martin said the site was outwith the village’s settlement boundary and building a home on it would be contrary to local planning policy.
Other land in the area, he said, could be used for a nursing home, bringing the same level of employment.
The decision was blasted by Howe of Fife and Tay Coast councillor David MacDiarmid, who had tried to persuade fellow councillors to give the green light to the scheme back in March.
Describing it as a missed opportunity, he said: “Cupar is crying out for jobs, like most places in Scotland, and this was an ideal chance to create employment.
“There could have been 50 people employed at the home and the jobs could have gone to people from the local area.
“There are probably people sitting in Cupar who would have given their right arm for a job in a place like that.
“For 20 years that site has lain empty. If it had been used for a nursing home, it would have added something to the area.
“I was fully supportive of the project and still am and I’m very disappointed it didn’t get the go-ahead.”
Mr Martin also believes that the building’s scale and bulk would have a detrimental impact on the surrounding countryside and the village’s setting.
He concluded that “the shortage of nursing home bed spaces in the Cupar area and the employment it would generate are not material considerations of sufficient weight to justify making an exception to policy in this case”.
Planning consent already exists for affordable housing on part of the site.