THE final paperwork to mark the completion of Fife Council's super depot at Halbeath has now been lodged.

A formal completion notice that work has now finished has been submitted to the local authority.

Plans for the local authority depot at Crossgates Road were first revealed in 2016 and it was originally scheduled to open the following year.

However, work didn't start until permission was granted in April 2020.

The delayed facility, which is next to the A92 at the old Kingdom Services site, cost around £8.4m, almost double the original approved budget of £4.5m.

The super depot brought four council services and more than 300 staff onto one modern, fit-for-purpose site, with estimated savings of around £200,000 a year.

The aim was to sell old and outdated Dunfermline depot sites, at Dickson Street, Milesmark, Bellyeoman and Elgin Street, and bring the waste, fleet and maintenance operations, as well as parks and building services, under one roof at Halbeath. 

The super depot has a salt barn, gritter shed, fuel site, wash bays, operational vehicle parking, staff parking and external stores.

The council’s fleet of vehicles in the West Fife area are serviced and maintained there and the site contains workshops, offices, meeting and training rooms. 

Ken Gourlay, head of assets, environment and transportation services at the council, previously explained: “£4.5m was the initial estimate prior to doing the full business case.

"At that point, the site and buildings conditions were unknown as was the full scope of the project. 

“Once we had a detailed scope for the project, a business case was taken to the policy and co-ordination committee in November 2017 and councillors approved a budget of £7.7m. 

“During the project, there have been some unforeseen works and additions which have brought the total cost up to £8.4m.”