The Postings: date & time for public consultation over plans for gap site

Developer Cruden has formally submitted a Proposal of Application Notice (PAN) to Fife Council, and its application suggests the site could include some commercial opportunities as well as flats.

It outlines plans for a residential development “with commercial units” as well as access and landscaping.

The PAN references Class 1A and/or 3 for business opportunities - the former includes shops, offices and hairdressers, while the latter covers restaurants and cafes.

The application also confirms dates and times for two public consultations at Kirkcaldy Galleries which are required within the 12-week period before a formal planning application is submitted to the local authority.

They take place on June 18 and August 26 at the Galleries, running from 3:30pm to 7:30pm.

The Postings site has been an eyesore since it was cleared in 2022 - and one of the first things visitors see on arrival at the adjacent bus station.

It hit the headlines when it was put up for auction with a £1 price tag by its former owners Columbia Threadneedle in 2019. It was bought by investor Tahir Ali at auction for just over £300,000 and re-branded the Kirkcaldy Centre in a bid to breathe new life into it, but didn’t survive beyond lockdown as the last tenants, Farmfoods and Lloyds Chemist moved out in the summer of 2021, famously leaving it as a shopping centre with no shops.

The empty building became a target for vandals, resulting in so much damage that Mr Ali had to have one entrance bricked up.

He also owns a number of properties along the High Street including the former Debenams and New Look shops - both now empty.

Cruden’s plans for the site include a mix of affordable housing tenures, including properties for those aged over 55. The development will comprise a mix of one, two, and three-bedroom apartments, including a series of colony houses. No definitive number of homes has been given

was given.

Its proposals aim to regenerate a brownfield, derelict site, creating a new, affordable, residential-led hub at the heart of Kirkcaldy Town Centre that will improve and encourage greater connectivity through the site to the High Street.