Fresh plans to transform one of Inverkeithing’s most prominent landmarks have been unveiled.
It is the latest in a string of unsuccessful proposals to convert the Queens Hotel in Church Street into flats and retail units.
Plans were twice rejected by Fife Council planners in 2008 and 2014 before being resubmitted in 2015 and finally approved in 2018.
Victorian façade to be retained
However, despite planners agreeing to extend the lapsed consent until September 2021 due to Covid-19, a fresh proposal has now been lodged.
The redevelopment will see the Queens Hotel’s notable façade retained.
Internally however, it will be converted into five flats, with two shops or offices on the ground floor.
Extensive redevelopment
The rear of the hotel will be knocked down and replaced by a three-storey terrace of 11 flats and associated car parking.
Meanwhile the neighbouring building at 2-6 Church Street will also be demolished to be replaced by two shops with six flats above.
Planners originally gave the go ahead subject to conditions, saying the “respectful” contemporary and traditional design of the development will have a “positive contribution to the immediate historical surroundings”.
The Queens Hotel was granted C-listed status in 2004.
It is also one of the few high Victorian facades to have been retained in the town.
Town centre restoration
The new application comes as major restoration work affecting Inverkeithing’s historic town centre gets underway.
The immediate area around the Civic Centre on Queen Street, which forms part of the setting for the historic Friary building, is being upgraded thanks to £200,000 from the Scottish Government’s Town Centre Fund.
The work compliments a wider Inverkeithing Heritage Regeneration project which also includes major improvements to the High Street and central conservation area.
A £475,000 restoration of the historic category A-listed Town House is also to take place.
The at-risk historic landmark is set to be given a new lease of life and will include the creation of a community hub.
In an initiative thought to be the first of its kind in Scotland, stone for the project will be supplied entirely from Scottish quarries.