HOUSES are set to be built on a site in Dunfermline after the Scottish Government granted an appeal against a costly planning condition.

The proposals for new homes at Masterton Farm received planning permission in principle in August last year however a sticking point was a stipulation which would have meant applicant Linda Tinson paying for around £650,000 of road improvements.

This, it had been argued, made the development "unviable" while objections were also raised over conditions requiring financial contributions for education and transport and for 25 per cent of the units - the land is zoned for up to 35 homes but it's likely to be nearer 20 - to be affordable homes.

Government reporter Alison Kirkwood has now granted the appeal and deemed that Mrs Tinson will not have to pay the £650,000 for Masterton Road upgrades, but she will have to meet the planning conditions for education, transport and affordable housing.

READ MORE: Scottish Government reporter gives Masterton Farm ruling

Plans to build houses on just over a hectare of land at Masterton Farm were first submitted in November 2008 but they've never managed to progress.

Mrs Tinson's planning agent, Joe Fitzpatrick, said she had been "forced to seek repeated renewals of planning permission for the site" with potential developers pulling out once they discovered the financial implications of the scheme.

Planning permission in principle was granted again by the council last August but councillors on the west and central planning committee refused a request to drop two conditions. 

One required Masterton Road to be upgraded from the front of the site to the junction with Skylark Road, a minimum width of 5.5 metres with new kerbs and a two-metre wide footway.

The condition also required the existing road to be patched or resurfaced.

READ MORE: Plans for new homes at Masterton are 'unviable'

The cost was estimated as £650,000 and Mr Fitzpatrick argued this was "unreasonable" as it imposed costs solely on his client, when there was another development site further down the road that would also benefit.

Ms Kirkwood, who visited the site in December, was "not persuaded" that the levels of traffic from the development, and pedestrian and cycle use of this part of Masterton Road, would justify a two-metre footway.

She also said the existing road was already 5.5m wide, accepted the council's new stance that kerbs would not be needed and added that, as it's an adopted road, the council are responsible for patching and resurfacing.