The Courier is taking a closer look at planning applications and developments across Fife with our new regular round-up.
Fife Planning Ahead looks at the most interesting plans across the Kingdom.
This week, plans include a war memorial in Rosyth, the future of a Kirkcaldy car park, the latest on Dunfermline Lidl proposals and plans for short-term let apartments in Dunfermline
Sculpture garden honouring Second World War Orzel submarine crew
Plans to create a memorial garden in memory of the crew of the Polish Orzel submarine in Rosyth have been revealed.
Fife Council is proposing a memorial sculpture and a landscaped garden on vacant land at the junction of Castle Road and Ferry Toll Road.
The Orzel escaped to sea as Germany invaded Poland before completing an arduous 40-day journey to the safety of the Scottish coast at Rosyth.
The crew joined the Royal Navy to help defend British waters but was lost at sea in June 1940.
Design proposals include a memorial sculpture, a tree-lined pathway, a garden and a seating area.
Kirkcaldy car park demolition
The first steps to demolish two ageing multi-storey car parks in Kirkcaldy are under way.
An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) screening option has been lodged by AHR Architects Ltd, on behalf of Fife Council’s property services.
If approved, a formal demolition order to tear down both the Esplanade and adjoining Thistle Street car parks is expected to follow.
Efforts to find a buyer for the dilapidated buildings have failed, despite the waterfront facility continuing to operate.
Dunfermline Lidl supermarket
Fife Council has asked for more time to decide on plans for a new Lidl supermarket in Dunfermline.
The budget retailer wants to build a shop on the site of the former King Malcolm Hotel on Laburnum Road.
The local authority says more information is required to allow it to fully assess the proposals, including a bat survey, drainage details, and “further information regarding trees and design amendments”.
It now wants until at least May 16 to make a decision.
Westfield to Kinghorn cable laying
A series of consultation events outlining plans to lay 14km of high-voltage cabling from Westfield to Kinghorn will take place next month.
Westfield Energy Recovery Facility is situated on the former Westfield opencast mine, which, at its peak, was the biggest opencast site in the UK and Europe’s largest man-made hole.
The cable laying plans are part of the Eastern Green Link project – a link between Westfield in Fife and Walpole in Norfolk.
A formal planning application outlining details of the planned cable laying project from Westfield to Kinghorn will follow May’s consultation events in Auchtertool, Ballingry and Kinghorn.
Dunfermline skin clinic
Plans have been lodged to demolish part of a Dunfermline city centre building to make way for a proposed skin clinic.
A “substantial demolition” within the Dunfermline conservation area would see the removal of an extension to an existing building on Chapel Street.
The dilapidated property at 19-27 Chapel Street is adjacent to Dunfermline bus station.
Historic Environment Scotland says it has no issues with the demolition of the building, which the applicant describes as “industrial” in style and is starting to “detach from the main building”.
St Andrews retail and business development
Plans for a £16m development in St Andrews involving shops, restaurants and business units have been unveiled.
Aberdeen-based West Coast Estates says the proposal for Craigtoun could create 170 jobs.
It forms part of a masterplan for the area, which includes more than 1,000 homes and which already has planning permission in principle.
Situated in the west of St Andrews, the 42-acre site is close to the Duke’s Golf Course.
And it is described as “an ideal hub for growth”.
It would be accessed off Craigtoun Road, via a new roundabout.
Dunfermline short-term let apartments
A bid to build 11 short-term let apartments on derelict land in Dunfermline city centre has been approved.
Glasgow-based Lucid Architecture submitted a planning application for the site of a former gym that burned down several years ago.
It includes studio flats with serviced accommodation in Queen Anne Street.
Visitor numbers to Dunfermline are predicted to rise in the wake of its city status, granted in 2022.
The development of a new, larger Fife College campus is also expected to have an effect.
And the architects say their short-term let apartments will boost the local economy without affecting the housing supply.
Here are the links to the planning/appeal papers for the Fife applications:
Multi-storey car park demolition, Kirkcaldy
Westfield to Kinghorn cable laying
Conservation area demolition for proposed skin clinic, Dunfermline
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