PLANS to turn the former Comrie Colliery into a major leisure and tourism complex with a golf course, watersports and an hotel have taken a step forward.

Comrie Development Company (CDC) want to transform 495 acres at the old coal mine and the ambitious proposals also include a 420 holiday chalets, a restaurant, garden centre with a shop and cafe, a spa, gym, a care home and retirement village.

If they get the go-ahead there could also be up to 200 houses, a visitor centre, light industrial units for employment, a solar farm, new path networks, a 10 hectare central park and more than 30 hectares of woodlands.

Last month CDC asked Fife Council for a scoping opinion, to ascertain the environmental impact of the development and what areas should be looked at in more detail.

The local authority have now confirmed that a number of issues should be assessed: biodiversity, protected species and habitats; land use, geology and soils; water environment; air quality and climate change; noise; landscape and visual.

Dunfermline Press: Mining has taken place on the land, between Blairhall and Saline, since at least the 1860s. Mining has taken place on the land, between Blairhall and Saline, since at least the 1860s.

The huge site is north of the A907, between Blairhall and Saline, and the site has been gradually restored so it can be brought back to productive use. There is little trace left of its industrial past with the land having been used for mining since at least the 1860s.

Comrie Colliery opened in 1939, it closed in 1986 and the site became derelict. It was put up for sale in 2018.

Restoration has continued at pace over the last few years and at 495 acres – for context a football pitch is around one acre – the site could easily accommodate the 18-hole, par 3 golf course which would also have a club house.

A new loch would be created which would be ideal for watersports and there’s also a suggestion the site could be linked to the rail network.