Landowner proceeding with housing plan at Crossford

Last April Stewart Milne Homes confirmed they wouldn't be proceeding with a contentious £25 million project, which would have seen 212 homes built to the south of Pitconnochie Farm.

This week the developer went into administration but planning permission is still in place and the site between the two villages road is being prepared for housebuilding.

The Alfred Stewart Property Foundation have submitted documents to Fife Council stating conditions that must be met before work can begin - such as details on action to eradicate Japanese knotweed, wheel cleaning measures, a phasing plan and the £47,700 of public art to be provided - have been complied with.

Stewart Milne Homes' plans to build 212 homes on the site were scrapped last year. (Image: Stewart Milne Homes)

A spokesperson from their planning agent, Bidwells, said: "At this stage our clients are proceeding with the development as the site has not yet been sold to anyone."

A development commencement notice was submitted to the council to say that Advance Construction (Scotland) Ltd, a company that specialises in groundworks and civil engineering, would be on site from January 8 to prepare the site for development.

The proposals were first submitted in January 2015 and proved controversial from the start, with the council having already ruled out the site for housing. 

In September 2018, after 139 letters of objection, councillors on the planning committee refused Stewart Milne Homes' application.

They appealed to the Scottish Government and in December 2019 the reporter sided with the developer and granted planning permission.

However there is still a question mark over a flood risk.

The original plans to deal with surface water at the site proposed laying a 700 metre long underground drainage pipe to the west but the final 180m was through land they didn't own.

In September 2022 one of the landowners, Robert Forrester, of the Forrester Park Resort in Cairneyhill, told the Press he hadn't been approached by the developer and wouldn't give permission.

He had added: “At the end of the day, we spent a lot of time and money on flood mitigation measures for our own houses, to ensure it didn’t create any issues for Cairneyhill.

“To think they could just run a pipe into our land, without coming to see us or talk about it, was a bit silly. We’re against it.”

By the following April, with no work having started, Stewart Milne Homes shelved their plans and the housebuilder went into administration on Monday with the loss of more than 200 jobs.

This week, Mr Forrester said it "seemed odd" that the applicant would go to the expense of preparing the site for development when drainage was still a major obstacle.

He added: "I haven't changed my mind. I haven't given permission and I won't be doing so. No-one has ever come to speak to us about this. Not once.

"Perhaps they've come up with an alternative route for the drainage pipe?"

Doug Hay, from Crossford Community Council, said they had contacted Fife Council's planning department to seek some clarity.

He explained: "Our understanding is that the drainage scheme was not agreed by the landowners and without their permission the developer wouldn't be able to start, as that was one of the conditions when the Scottish reporter made their decision."

Mr Hay said the community council was still worried about the prospect of "cramming" in more than 200 houses between Crossford and Cairneyhill.

It had previously opposed several aspects of the Milne development, including design and layout proposals, the drainage scheme, loss of trees and the impact the development would have on the traffic network, road safety and the primary school.

The council's planning service confirmed that consent is in place to allow the development to start, including the drainage scheme, and the applicant is apparently "content they have the permissions they need to start work on the land owned by third parties".

The site is owned by the foundation named after the millionaire property developer Alf Stewart, who died in 2008.

It donated a "six figure sum" to the Yes U Are partnership in 2012 to help renovate the old St Andrew's Erskine Church in Pilmuir Street.

The following year four of Mr Stewart's children failed in a legal bid to have his will overturned, after unsuccessfully arguing that he was suffering from delusional thinking when he changed it. 

The Court of Session judge, Lord Brailsford, had described the late businessman as a "sexual predator" but said that although his behaviour was "repugnant" it did not mean he lacked capacity.