NEARLY 200 homes are to be built in the shadow of Dunfermline’s future 'super campus' after planning permission was granted by local councillors.

Persimmon Homes and Bellway Homes overcame 183 objections to receive unanimous approval for their plans at the Shepherd Offshore site at Halbeath, where St Columba's and Woodmill high schools will be built next to a new Fife College.

The firms will deliver 49 affordable homes as part of the 193-dwelling development for social let.

Council planning officer Jamie Penman said these would be “indistinguishable” from the other homes, in line with council guidance, and said the development largely complied with council policies.

“The proposed development would be the second and final phase of residential units of a much larger mixed use development and would create a high quality development within the wider site,” he wrote in his report.

However, officers were criticised by Councillor Bobby Clelland for recommending the plans for approval despite failing to meet council-set requirements for quality building.

Persimmon and Bellway’s development features no bungalows – something Fife Council says all mixed housing developments should have – and has only half of the minimum open space required. The minimum number of parking spaces for the development has also not been met.

“It astounds me,” Cllr Clelland told a planning meeting last week.

“We’ve got guidelines saying there should be a complete mix including bungalows, and I’m staggered that we never enforce our own guidelines on parking and green space. We just accept it.

“It’s in our guidelines. It’s ridiculous.”

Kevin Treadwell, the council’s head of planning, said that the plans were recommended for approval because a balance had been struck between what he called the “merits and demerits”.

Legal advisors said that seeking to refuse the application on the basis of bungalows alone would likely see the council defeated at the appeal stage.

“Our view is that, taking the proposals as a whole, it’s acceptable despite these elements falling short,” Treadwell concluded.

James MacKay, managing director of Persimmon Homes North Scotland, said it represented a £14 million investment in Fife and that a £1m contribution for education has been agreed with the council.

He added: “The regeneration of this site will not only develop new homes, it will breathe new life into the local economy, create jobs and enhance the surrounding area.

"Our proposals feature elements of landscaping to soften the areas between the development and the neighbouring education campus and the creation of stone artwork that mirrors phase one will be complemented with newly planted birch trees."

Every one of the 183 representations made to Fife planners objected to the homes, citing the potential impact of the development on local wildlife, particularly in the protected Calais Woods to the south.

However, the principle of the housing had already been approved with the signing off of a masterplan earlier this year.

Details of the 15 metre buffer zone separating the housing from the woods were not included in the paper presented to councillors – described as an oversight by planners, who said that it was included in detailed schematics.

And while the housebuilders have submitted a maintenance plan for their planned landscaping, there is no backup plan for keeping this in check should a factor not be brought in – an omission described by Cllr Helen Law as “really disappointing”.

The Save the Calais Woods Wildlife group, which has campaigned to protect the local woodland, posted: “193 houses next to Calais woods have been approved today, even though there are no bungalows, not enough parking and not enough green space.

“We are fighting for scraps and winning scraps but we are making progress.

“And thank you to the councillors this time for speaking up again, they raised good points. Although hopefully one day they might actually refuse an application.”

A spokesperson for Persimmon Homes said: “The development will create jobs and deliver a range of high-quality new homes in an area that has shown encouraging signs of interest from first time buyers and the surrounding established market.

“Work is scheduled to get underway later this year in readiness for homes to be released for sale in early 2022.”