The redevelopment of Rosyth Waterfront took a step forward on Wednesday after a planning framework for the vast site was approved.
Councillors on the region’s South West Fife area committee gave the green light to the document, which will provide guidance to developers keen to transform the prominent site.
It’s hoped thousands of jobs could be brought to the region after one of the landowners involved, the Scarborough Muir Group, unveiled plans to invest around £250 million at the location.
The decision means planning applications can now finally be submitted for the complex, following years of discussion over the future of the land.
Robin Edgar, Fife Council planning officer, said: “We have consulted all landowners and they are all happy with this.
“It draws a line under this stage and now allows us the opportunity to move on to the application stage.”
The adoption of the framework means the site, described as “world class” by committee chairwoman Alice McGarry, will be developed almost exclusively for employment purposes with the exception of a small area at the east end which has been designated as mixed use.
There had been fears that the protracted process to redevelop the site had stagnated after the Scottish Government Reporter examining the draft FIFEplan recommended it be zoned for employment use only.
While the committee did agree to adopt the framework document, its three Conservative Party members called for a deferral, claiming more advances could be made through further discussions with stakeholders.
Councillor Dave Dempsey said: “We have been sitting looking at this site for donkey’s years.
“This framework might take us down that track but I have got the feeling that will only take us a very short distance.”
However, this was countered by SNP councillor David Barratt, who said: “The reason that this has been rumbling on is because this has been Europe’s biggest demolition process.
“It has not been 10 years of Fife Council doing nothing.”
