OWNERS of the former Woodside Hotel in Aberdour have won planning permission from Fife Council to tweak their plans and create more flats at the landmark property.

The B-Listed hotel closed its doors last year after the owners said keeping it as a viable business was "virtually impossible". 

Since then, owner John McTaggart got planning permission from the council to convert the former hotel into three flats and two houses.

The latest plans, which were approved this week, will allow him to convert the property to the west of the hotel – referred to as the Dairy – into two more upper and lower flats with separate access from the street.

A planning statement said: “The original consents were granted on November 20, 2023 and established the principle of conversion of the former hotel to residential use.

READ MORE: The Woodside Hotel in Aberdour to be converted into housing

“Following detailed discussions and reviewing the approved plans it was felt that the proposed dwelling referred to as the Dairy was too large to be marketable in its current form and would be better suited to flatted development similar to the main part of the hotel, with an upper and lower flatted dwelling considered.”

Now that Fife Council has signed off on the plans – submitted in September – The Dairy will be converted into upper and lower flats with separate access from the street and rear of the site. Each property will have a small private garden with a larger space to the rear of the site.

In addition to being more marketable, developers said that the plans will “drastically reduce” the amount of demolition and allow for more of the original building to be retained.

“The plans seek to amend the original consent to improve its financial viability and to allow the site to actually be developed in line with the proposals and retain and repurpose a much-loved historic building within the village,” a planning statement said.

“The changes are relatively minor in the context of the previous approvals and seek to build on that principle with a sensible and restrained approach to the revised scheme.”

With Fife Council approval in place, work must now begin within the next three years – a standard condition of planning consent.