The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Bid to unlock stalemate on pitch for club
Calls for a delay in building a supermarket until a football club has a new pitch after being made homeless is to go before councillors tomorrow.
Conservative councillor Tony Orton is to put a motion at Fife Council’s south west area committee calling for a written commitment that no work will start on construction of a new supermarket on Rosyth Football Club’s former Admiralty Park site until the club is guaranteed new facility.
The football club relinquished its ground at the request of Fife Council in 2017 to help plans to build a new Lidl store on the site.
As part of the planning approval, Rosyth FC was to be provided with a replacement facility or a cash sum to build its own.
Four years on and still without a replacement pitch, the club has been told the council’s preferred option would be to integrate it in the proposed new Inverkeithing High School campus, earmarked for Fleet Grounds.
However, construction of the school is not expected to be complete until 2026.
“It’s a dreadful situation that the club has found itself in and certainly by no fault of their own,” said Mr Orton.
“I’ve been trying to help the club work through what is a very complex set of circumstances, which includes the construction of a supermarket and new school campus, as well as the club’s desire to redevelop part of South West Fife Community Sports Partnership’s Fleet Grounds that Rosyth have rented since it was made homeless.”
Mr Orton is calling for strict timescales regarding providing a new pitch before construction on the store begins.
Part of his motion reads: “No work shall commence on the development of the retail store which will preclude, prevent or limit the use of the existing football pitch until a signed, binding contract has been submitted to the council that demonstrates the replacement pitch will be constructed.”
Last week it was revealed that developer McTaggart and Mikel had agreed to increase its offer by an asyet undisclosed sum to help finance a new pitch and unlock the redevelopment of the club’s former Admiralty Park ground.
Its original £175,000 offer was rejected by Fife Council in November 2020 because it fell well short of the council’s estimated costs of providing a new pitch.
The attempt to secure a binding agreement has been welcomed by Rosyth FC representative Russell Craig.
He said: “We can’t thank Mr Orton and his colleagues enough for the continued support and hopefully they will agree to this request which we hope will finally move the issue forward.”
“There are still too many what-ifs and maybes and the club now just wants some transparency.”