ROSYTH Recreation FC will have to find a new home after Fife Council sanctioned the sale of their ground for a new supermarket.

Councillors accepted an offer on Tuesday that will see a store and car park built on the pitch with the rest of the land likely to become housing.

The suggestion is that the club, a member of the Scottish Junior Football Association who play in the South Division of the East Region leagues, should relocate to the Fleet Grounds.

A report to the executive committee explained: “The council has received an offer to purchase part of Recreation Park, Rosyth, from a developer seeking to construct a supermarket with ancillary car-parking on part of the existing football pitch and on the adjacent privately-owned site, formerly The Yard public house.

“As only part of the council-owned pitch is required for the retail scheme, the balance of the site offers potential for development of housing, subject to receipt of the necessary statutory consents.”

It’s not yet known which of the supermarket firms are involved.

Rosyth’s ground, where they have played since 1992, is owned by the council and last year, the club’s lease was terminated. It was replaced by a new deal that reduced the notice period from six months to one month.

The council will sell half a hectare of land at Recreation Park and added: “In the future, the balance of the site, extending to 1.5 hectares, could be the subject of residential development providing both private and affordable housing.”

Sportscotland will have to agree to the plans and the report said the Fleet Grounds “offers potential for re-provision of the facilities and will be able to accommodate the football activities currently undertaken at Recreation Park”.

The council bought the Fleet Grounds and pavilion from the Ministry of Defence in the summer of 2014 in a £133,000 deal and the South West Fife Community Sports Partnership have been tasked with turning it into a hub for a variety of sports.

There’s £400,000 of council money earmarked for the eight-hectare site and plans include a new 3G artificial pitch, three full-size grass pitches, a seven-a-side pitch, indoor sports hall, floodlighting, refurbishment of the pavilion, access improvements and additional car-parking.

The plan is to have the 3G surface available for bookings from November with the revenue from pitch hire helping to fund the next phases.

One of the stated aims of the partnership was to have all of Rosyth’s football teams, of all ages, based at the Fleet Grounds but current plans do not include the juniors side.

Chairman Jon Harrison said: “Fife Council has been looking at various sites for relocating Rosyth Recreation and it’s been on-going for a year or so.

“The business plan for the Fleet Grounds didn’t include the juniors but I understand the sites they’ve been offered were not available or weren’t good enough.

“So there’s now going to be a meeting with the club, the SFA and the partnership. The council is looking at a few ways of accommodating them at the Fleet Grounds but there are still matters to sort out.”

A spokesman for the club said the Fleet Grounds was the preferred option but it was not clear if or when they would be able to move there.

He added that they may have to play outwith the town for an interim period to allow their current ground to be developed but they would know more after the meeting with the partnership and the SFA.

Rosyth co-manager Kevin Smith said: “There’s a chance for the partnership and Fife Council to do something special for the community at the Fleet Grounds. It could be a real flagship for the area and the envy of a lot of other towns.”