D-day for housing plan to transform Kirkcaldy High Street gap site

Councillors on the Central and West Planning Committee will decide on a planning application to turn the site of the old Co-Op into a new residential development.

The land has sat empty for almost 15 years, but now, Newport Property Development of Broughty Ferry wants to take it on, and demolish the adjacent empty furniture shop to create 39 new homes.

The development would also include two offices on the ground floor.

The project has the backing of key local councillors who see the site as one of the scars on the town centre landscape, and a significant improvement at the gateway to the east end of the High Street.

It has attracted two objections, including one from Kirkcaldy West Community Council.

Concerns centre on the impact of the adjacent B-listed flats in Oswalds Wynd.

The bid to secure full planning permission would mark a turning point in the transformation of a boarded up piece of land which has been the subject of several failed attempts in the past.

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It used to be home to the Co-Op which burned down in a devastating £1m fire in 1975.

The former store was finally demolished 2006 after plans to build 26 flats and add retail space were approved 12 months earlier.

The property was then sold, and the project halted in 2008 halted during the recession. Permission was extended until 2010, but work never started.

The plan before the committee on Wednesday would see it become 39 affordable homes, managed by the local authority as part of a Community Letting Initiative.

The flats would not be let to people with children because of pressure on local schools, and would aim to “provide a balanced community with a focus on a more mature age group and demographic.”

The ground floor office space would become an 'Adaptations One Stop Shop' to provide advice to people with independent living needs. It would also have pods to allow people to test adaptations in a range of "homely settings" and provide space for a range of voluntary agencies.

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