UNCERTAINTY still surrounds the fate of the Albert Hotel in North Queensferry after the latest planning application was withdrawn.

A request by owners Festival Inns SAAS for listed building consent to allow internal alterations to the building's basement, as well as structural and masonry works and the removal of partitions - part retrospective - was made earlier this year.

Dating back to 1824, the hotel has been closed since 2017.

Festival Inns previously applied for a change of use so they could convert the C-listed building into flats but this was met with 133 letters of objection.

The plans were rejected by Fife Council’s west and central planning committee and an appeal to the Scottish Government also failed.

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Local residents are keen to see a community take-over of the building so it can be restored for the good of the village.

The North Queensferry Community Trust has applied to the Scottish Government for consent to exercise the right to buy under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 with a decision expected in the coming months.

The trust's chair, Iain Mitchell, said they are still waiting for news.

"The application is presently before the Scottish ministers and we are simply waiting," he explained. "The application for listed building consent was essentially for repairs to be made to stabilise the structure.

"Nobody objects to that but the problem is the work that is required is partly necessitated by the fact that they have done unauthorised work.

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"A few weeks ago, planning wrote to say that the application had been withdrawn and so we have simply written back to planning pointing out the retrospective nature of the consent and asking what they plan to do in way of enforcement."

The Press contacted Festival Inns for comment but they had not responded by the time of going to print.