Councillors have turned their backs on a possible £3.5 million cash bonanza because they believed the housing development plans before them were unworthy of Kinross.
They unanimously shot down plans to demolish the former Kinross High School and replace it with 102 homes.
Developer Persimmon Homes was told to go back to the drawing board and only return when it has a scheme that recognises the site’s location in the town’s historic conservation area.
In a charged meeting on Wednesday, councillors were highly critical of the report by local authority planners, which had backed both elements of the scheme.
Kinross-shire councillor Willie Robertson barracked the developers for their community consultation, branding it a sham, as a Persimmon spokesman admitted they had done “the minimum expected”.
He was also critical of the omission of the opinions of the council’s specialist conservation officer from the reports before them. The officer had initially objected to the development in the strongest possible terms.
Development quality manager Nick Brian said those comments were made public “prematurely” and claimed the views were represented in the report.
In what became an uncomfortable hour for Mr Brian, however, Mr Robertson questioned that and criticised the decision to provide councillors with “selective information”.
Persimmon had envisaged a mixed development of two, three, four and five-bedroom homes, together with a number of “entry level” affordable homes.
It had intended to build right up to edges of the site, taking the development into close proximity of the category B-listed Kinross Parish Church.
Persimmon’s Ian McGoldrick said it was “financially unviable” to retain the oldest part of the school, which dates back more than 100 years.
The councillors all agreed the oldest part of the school should be retained.
Mr Robertson said: “We have a duty to future generations to do something that we are proud of; something imaginative that reflects this part of the town.”