Developers invite opinions on former Fife mine to holiday park conversion

Next Wednesday (October 25) Manchester’s Ben Jurin Architecture Ltd has officially invited the public to see the proposals and give feedback for the potential project. The firm has also submitted a formal Proposal of Application Notice (PAN) to Fife Council for the hypothetical plans.

The proposals include the change of use of former industrial land into a holiday lodge/caravan park – including the siting of caravans and the creation of a path link and other infrastructure.

The 6.46 hectare site is known as the former Castlehill Mine west of Blairhall. The postcode indicates that the site is in a remote part of the Kingdom near its western border with Clackmannanshire.

Developers have announced a public consultation event for the surrounding communities.

“The exhibition will be manned for the duration to allow interested parties to make comments in an appropriate manner and ask questions of the project team,” Fife Council planning papers stated.

A public consultation event is proposed to be held in the main hall at Blairhall Community Centre on Wednesday, October 25, 2023 from 4pm-8pm and a subsequent follow-on public event will be held in due course.

A PAN is the very first step in a long planning process. The council has accepted the proposed public consultation as sufficient for this stage of the process, but it does not signal formal approval.

The planning authority explained that the PAN process requires a twelve-week period to elapse before a formal application can be submitted.

If and when a full planning application is made, the council will consider it in full and the public will have the opportunity to voice their opinions or concerns directly to the council.

For now, however, the potential developers have invited the public to comment on the proposals by post, email or in person at the consultation event.

“Comments on the proposals may be made on the day of the event or later in writing to Oliver & Robb Architects by post to the address below or by email to [email protected]. The deadline for comments to be received is Wednesday, December 13, 2023,” developers said.

They warned: “Any comments submitted are to the applicant only and are not representations to the Planning Authority. Should a Planning Application be submitted at a later date there will be opportunity to make any representations to the Planning Authority at that time.”