THE likely approval to build 125 new homes in Aberdour has been branded “another farcical and indefensible failure of the planning system” by a Fife councillor.

A decision is yet to be published formally by a Scottish Government reporter but documents issued recently appear to suggest that he is “allowing” the appeal, although rejecting the applicant’s claim for financial damages against the council.

In December, reporter David Buylla said he was minded to overturn Fife Council’s decision to reject plans to develop the Hillside School site and grant permission, but there have been delays since changes to Scottish planning policy that same month opened a window of opportunity for those against the plans. However, it has been reported in the past week that the policy will go no further since it was thrown out of a court on a technicality and many in the community are now expecting the Hillside plans to be approved.

Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay councillor David Barratt believes it will now go ahead and said last week: “In another farcical and indefensible failure of the planning system, the Hillside application looks set to be approved.

“In what appears to be a successful and deliberate attempt to subvert the planning system, the applicant withheld information until determination sat with the reporter.

“The reporter has subsequently accepted a raft of additional information, setting a clear precedent that undermines the function of all planning authorities.

“It is difficult to see any material considerations that would lead any reasonable person to approve this development. It will damage the character of Aberdour, it will destroy an area of scenic value, it is on the flood plain, it is unwanted and unneeded. In rejecting the financial claim against the council, the reporter concludes the council has not acted in an unreasonable manner. I can’t say they same for the applicant or the reporter.”

The plans for Hillside were submitted in November 2018, were met by 352 objections and refused by Fife Council in February 2020 due to “inadequate information” on which to take a decision.

A previous application in 2017 attracted 461 objections and was refused on the same grounds.

An appeal to the Scottish Government was submitted in May 2020.

Hillside is a private school and the applicant wants to build new homes to help fund the relocation of the school. The council said more houses in this area were not needed and the plans lacked information on key issues such as flooding, design, over-development and impact on the landscape.

Agent Philip Neaves argued that their figures were from a plan that was rejected by Scottish ministers and that previously-accepted figures, showing a housing shortfall, should be used instead.

Iain Fleming, chair of Aberdour Community Council, said: “It’s not definite but I cannot see that it is going to change.

“If this goes through this a catastrophic planning failure. It represents a real danger to the planning process in Scotland as there’s a loophole for developers to frustrate the local planning service.”

Pam Ewen, the council’s head of planning, said: “The applicant lodged an appeal on 23 April 2020 after we refused planning permission on 3 February 2020 for a residential development on the site of Hillside School, Aberdour.

“At the same time, the applicant also lodged a claim for expenses alleging that we had acted unreasonably in determining the application.

“We haven’t received a decision from the Department of Planning and Environmental Appeals (DPEA) yet on the appeal against the refusal of planning permission. However, the DPEA did issue a decision on 12 August 2021 about the claim for expenses.

They found that we didn’t act unreasonably and therefore haven’t awarded expenses to the applicant.”

The Press approached applicant Felsham Planning and Development for comment but they did not respond ahead of us going to print last week, Thursday.