AGENTS behind a bid to bring a drive-through Costa Coffee to Halbeath have lodged an appeal with Scottish ministers to have the coffee shop’s opening hours extended.

PVY Ltd had sought to extend the hours of the coffee shop by two hours to 5am each day after having planning permission granted for a retail park on the town’s Main Street, west of MacDonald Square.

While the retail park – which will also feature a Burger King and several shop units – can go ahead as planned, councillors on the Central and West planning committee had refused the 5am request because of fears it would disrupt people living nearby.

JJF Planning, agents for the Dunfermline-based firm, has lodged appeal documents with the Scottish Government’s planning appeals division in order to have the refusal overturned.

Planning agent Joe Fitzpatrick has suggested that noise impact reports filed in support of the application have been looked upon favourably by planning officers on several occasions – and claims that noise from the units will not annoy residents.

“To offer a refusal of the current application for planning permission, despite such repeated and unequivocal advice, in the absence of any empirical evidence to the contrary as a basis for doing so, is considered to represent unreasonable behaviour,” he said.

Mr Fitzpatrick is also seeking costs from Fife Council to cover what he called the “unnecessary expense” in appealing the refusal.

As reported by the Press, the committee refused the request for earlier opening at their meeting in November.

With a vote of six to five, they agreed a motion which meant all units on the site be subject to the opening hours which they had agreed previously.

At the meeting, service manager and committee lead Mary Stewart had urged the committee to rethink the condition and warned that it left them open for a successful appeal.

She said an acoustic report found no noise impact from night-time operation would occur because of the drive-thru nature, adding: "As a planner, I cannot recommend to you a condition that would open the council up to challenge."

However, West Fife and Coastal Villages councillor Bobby Clelland had his motion to keep the previously-agreed conditions passed.

"The exit/entrance is still going to be the same as units one to four so the noise for any traffic into Costa or the other one will be the same," he said.

The planning appeals division has confirmed receipt of the appeal and will now seek a response from Fife Council. A ruling is expected by mid-March.

A spokesperson for the Halbeath Village Residents and Tenants Association said he believed the local community would be "up in arms" about such early opening hours.

"I think the Halbeath Environmental Group are working hard on this and have been asking everyone to sign a petition to try and halt this," he said. "Having the community woken up at five in the morning with loading and unloading of goods but it is not just that, it is all the additional traffic.

"I support having all these new businesses coming to the area and revitalising it but they need to do it in a socially-responsible manner."