60 homes in new cul-de-sac planned for Ladybank

Raith Homes has submitted comprehensive technical drawings for 60 homes on land to the west of Church Street.

Five types of home are proposed for the cul-de-sac development, which will include footpaths linking to Monks Moss and Gladstone Place.

The development had been met with some resistance from Ladybank residents when work began without warning in December.

Locals reported Raith to Fife Council after diggers began working on the site as early as 7.30am.

Gordon Powell, boss of the firm, said at the time that neighbours did not need to be notified because a planning application approved in 2004 was still considered to be active.

Previous owners Thistle Homes created an access road after the original proposal was approved, extending the permit indefinitely. Raith bought the site from Thistle for a reported £2.9 million last year.

Under planning rules Fife Council is to notify 93 homes in the immediate area of the new application - known as an application required by conditions, an 'add-on' to the existing permission.

Mr Powell says the community's reception to his plans has been more positive in the weeks since he began work on the site.

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He said today: "The whole site has full planning permission and we haven't increased the number of houses, just changed the house types.

"Hopefully the local residents will see the benefit of what my company is planning to do.

"We've even had enquiries from people looking for jobs."

Planning agents Davidson Baxter Partnership, based in Kirkcaldy, say Raith wants to build mostly single-storey homes on the site along with a small number of semi-detached and terraced dwellings that it says will sit well with neighbouring houses.

A statement prepared by DBP read: "Overall, the design updates and changes create a subtle diversity of scale and massing which sits comfortably in relation to the scale and proportions of the surrounding properties."

Those in the neighbourhood notification area have until February 18 to make any comments on the proposed house types and development layout.

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