GRANTING planning permission for a mixed development is the "only way" to remove public safety concerns at Prestonhill Quarry, a firm has insisted.

DDR (UK) Ltd have re-submitted their application for the Inverkeithing site – just months after the Scottish Government dismissed the previous one – where they want to build 180 homes, holiday lodges and a hilltop bar/bistro.

There was considerable opposition to their first bid and a local councillor said he was "puzzled" why Fife Council would accept another one.

DDR said that, if approved, they'll fill in the quarry and remove the pond of water where four fatal accidents occurred between 1973 and 2017.

Their agent said: "This process cannot commence until planning permission is gained, as legal liability prevents the applicant taking land ownership without planning consent.

"Until such time, the risk of further accidents and the current demands on the police, fire and ambulance services will remain."

The site is just over 44 acres and the firm, with Donald McCorquodale and Iain Mulholland as directors, said they had a legal agreement with the landowners, Prestonhill Developments Ltd, and access to private funding to develop the "derelict" brownfield site and help address a housing "shortfall" in the area.

The applicant said that, as well as the four deaths, a casualty sustained injuries in a fall from the quarry cliff in 2010 and there had been an increase in emergency service calls to the site, particularly during the pandemic.

The "further anti-social behaviour and dangerous incidents" included 'tombstoning' from the cliffs, deliberate fires and vehicles "driving at speed in the quarry area and on the coastal path".

They said the water had long been used as a dumping ground and the risk of continued rock fall was "significant", with the council's attempts to restrict access hampered by vandalism, with fences pulled down and a barrier damaged.

DDR's agent said: "The dilemma is therefore that the public have access to a potentially dangerous site, with no responsible landowner or the local authority able to maintain public safety measures.

"This situation will only continue unless responsibility for the safety of the quarry can be established.

"The applicant contends that this proposal, which has the ability, legally, to progress with future development, is the only way to potentially resolve the public safety concerns of the quarry."

The first application was met with 162 letters of objection.

Mary Farrell, chair of the Inverkeithing Trust, had said: “If it is accepted that crime should not pay, then criminal or anti-social behaviour cannot be an argument for the development of 180 houses.”

The council's west and central planning committee voted 7-4 against in February and it was refused on appeal by the Government in September.

Local councillor David Barratt said: "At first glance, it is not immediately clear to me what has changed from the application refused just a few months ago.

"As for why a fresh application is being allowed so soon after refusal, I have asked the council's planning team."

He said the council had the discretionary power to "refuse to consider repeat applications refused by the reporter within the previous two years" and added: "I'm puzzled why the council would not exercise this power."

Planning service manager Mary Stewart told the Press it would be "unreasonable" to not accept the application as the applicant had included further information and amended the proposal to address the issues that led to refusal.

DDR's plans also include 45 affordable homes, relocation and enhancement of the Fife Coastal Path, removing "dangerous rock faces", public open space, landscaping, a second link road from Fraser Avenue and the reconstruction and relocation of Beamer Rock lighthouse.