New plans unveiled for site of former Fife police station, a decade after officers moved out
New plans to turn the site of a former Fife police station into a housing development have been unveiled.
Glasgow based Carmichael Homes has submitted a planning application to Fife Council to build 44 affordable homes on land that was once home to Glenrothes Police Station.
It comes five years after a previous application for 20 homes, a nursery, offices and a cafe were approved, only for that developer, Lomond Group, to cease trading.
The police station closed in 2015 and subsequently demolished, leaving the prominent site empty and fenced off for over a decade.
Carmichael Homes wants to amend the previous planning permission which included commercial development opportunities to focus solely on housing, with the 44 homes being built for Kingdom Housing Association.
Its proposal includes a range of house types and cottage flats providing two, three and four-bedroom accommodation.
A planning statement said: “The development has been designed to meet a range of housing needs and includes both amenity housing and wheelchair-accessible homes. The layout broadly follows the road pattern established through the previously approved development and utilises infrastructure works and drainage measures already implemented on site.
“Existing peripheral landscaping and mature trees are retained where possible, preserving the established character of the site and contributing positively to biodiversity and visual amenity. A new pedestrian connection to the north-west of the site will provide enhanced access to Riverside Park.”
The developer said the original plans for commercial use had proven to be “undeliverable.”
It added: “The proposal therefore provides a realistic and deliverable development solution for a prominent brownfield site that would otherwise remain vacant and unfinished.
“Whilst part of the site is identified for employment use, the previous commercial proposal has proven undeliverable, the site remains vacant and the proposed development would not prejudice the wider employment land supply within Glenrothes.” Councillors will consider the application in due course.
Police officers were based at Napier Road from 1975 until moving out in 2015. The station was demolished in 2017 after the empty building had become a magnet for vandalism.