Plans for a major development to the east of a picturesque Fife village have been met with a mixed response from locals.
Trustees of the Elie Estates Trust have this week formally tabled an application for planning permission in principle for a huge mixed use scheme on a site to the east of Wadeslea in Elie – although community councillors have already indicated they will object to the plans if a more detailed blueprint comes.
The Trust hopes to create 55 new homes on the land, along with associated car parking, open space, landscaping, new access points, small business units, a care home, retirement homes, community facilities and additional parking for the existing doctors’ surgery in the area.
Thirty-one of the proposed new properties would be for sale on the open market, while 24 have been earmarked for affordable housing.
But discontent with the ambitious plans is growing, amid suggestions that Nairn Park – a patch of land used as a community football pitch – could effectively be swallowed up by the development.
Neil Grieve, speaking on behalf of the Friends of Nairn Park, is just one of many locals with a strong interest in protecting and enhancing the park.
“The existing park is recognised as being close to existing commercial uses and has significant commercial development potential,” he said.
“When considering the value of open green space to the quality of village life we disagree strongly with this narrative.
“Existing open space must not be devalued to a green space corridor and replaced by a park on the periphery of the wider village, which jointly shares land with SUDS provisions, and which may be surrounded by construction for years to come.”
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The Elie planning application comes just days after the Trust submitted plans for 25 new detached homes on land at Earlsferry, which is bordered by houses along Grange Road and Ferry Road to the east and farmland to the north and west.
A joint planning statement comprising both projects has been submitted to Fife Council along with both individual applications, and that document – produced by Andrew McCafferty Associates on behalf of the Trustees – has urged the local authority to back the plans.
However, a public meeting was held locally earlier this week and it is understood that Elie and Earlsferry Community Council is now preparing objection documents to both the Grange and Wadeslea planning applications.
Among the points it will raise will be concerns over the scale of development, environmental repercussions, sewage management, water provision and traffic and congestion issues.
