Diving centre at quarry plea

Diving instructors hope to convince developers of the potential for a national dive centre at a notorious Fife quarry.

Initial plans submitted for Prestonhill Quarry at Inverkeithing appear to have ruled out the possibility of a dive centre at the site and include a proposal to partially or wholly fill in the flooded crater.

Developers DDR, who want to build 180 new homes and holiday lodges there, have said such a project would be “extremely challenging”.

But there is strong support for keeping the quarry pool among members of the diving c o m m u n i ty, who h av e argued it is a valuable training facility.

It is frequently used by instructors and has been used to train emergency service divers.

Instructor Andrew Murray, who regularly dives at Prestonhill, said he has arranged to meet DDR’s project co-ordinator Donald McCorquodale to set out his vision for the quarry.

“Our plan, and this is what we put in the business plan, was to turn it into the Scottish national dive centre,” he said.

“Around the coast of Scotland we’ve got worldclass diving. People come from all over the world to dive in Scotland.

“It’s one of Scotland’s natural assets, our shoreline, but we’ve got a cottage industry in Scotland as far as diving is concerned.

“We need to invest in it and make it the world-class facility we need.”

Mr Murray conceded not all members of the local community would back his plans.

There have been calls for the quarry to be filled after three young people lost their lives there between 2014 and 2017.

So f a r, a screening opinion request has been submitted to Fife Council, to determine if an Environmental Impac t Assessment is necessary.

Mr McCorquodale said at this early stage of the development, nothing had been ruled out.

However, he said: “There is a huge number of challenges in relation to the diving centre. Nothing is off the table but it would be extremely challenging.

“We’re only at the preapplication stage. T he community will be able to influence the final outcome in relation to the planning application.”

‘VALUABLE’ ASSET: Flooded Prestonhill Quarry is used frequently by diving instructors.