Planning process starts again for Madras

It means the council will be going through the full planning application process once again, two years after the council first granted outline planning permission for the Pipeland site.

The move comes after prolonged court actions which recently saw opponents of the Pipeland site win an appeal against the Pipeland site.

Now the council has decided not to go back to court and will instead start the planning process again.

The Court of Session decision asked the council, as planning authority, to reconsider the application.

Pam Ewen, Senior Manager (Planning) at Fife Council, announced the decision today saying: “We will now re-open and commence reconsideration of the application. As planning authority we firstly need to consider what new information the applicant will need to submit to allow reconsideration of this proposal. I anticipate that it will take us some time to go back through the original information submitted with the planning application before we can advise the applicant what is required.”

The council added that this would only be a first step in the application process and full consultation would follow at a later stage if the application proceeds.

Council Leader David Ross today reassured pupils, parents and the wider public that the decision not to appeal is the right one but the will to see a new Madras is as strong as ever.

“I am adamant that the children of Madras deserve a new school which will meet all our aspirations. We will not be diverted from that aim,” he insisted.

“We have been advised that the planning application for the Pipelands site remains ‘live’ and the Council will have to consider how to take this forward. This will take time and will also be dependent on the progress of the Local Development Plan which is currently under consideration.

“Officers are currently working on proposals for improvements to the current buildings as a matter of urgency,” Cllr Ross added.