School’s owners appeal council refusal of Aberdour homes plan

Hillside School in Aberdour has appealed Fife Council’s decision to throw out its plans for 125 new homes in the village.

The school’s owners want to secure planning permission for housebuilding on the site off Main Street and have gone to the Scottish Government’s Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA) after their proposal was rejected by councillors.

They say it would fund a new school to replace the existing 200-year-old Hillside House and accommodation dating back to the 1970s and 1980s and no longer deemed fit for purpose.

Fife Council rejected the plans in February on the grounds of having received insufficient information on issues including impact on the surrounding landscape and protected species, flooding risk and local amenity, specifically in relation to noise. The plans drew 352 objections.

Iain Fleming, who chairs Aberdour Community Council, said: “There were many fair requests for additional information made by the council and stakeholders, which you would expect for a development of this scale, and the developer has been given countless opportunities and extended timeline to provide this information.”

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency objected to the proposal on the grounds of flood risk. The proposal was outside the village envelope and the council said there were no material considerations to “outweigh the fact the residential element proposal encroaches into the countryside.”

Agents Felsham have submitted 76 documents to the DPEA in support of the appeal.