Retirement village plans in Cupar back on track despite objections

North East planning committee councillors unanimously approved the plans this week despite 20 planning objections from residents.

Easy Living Developments received planning permission to bring the vacant and derelict land at Cupar’s former sawmill site back into use as a retirement village.

The proposals will see 37 caravans moved onto the site to provide permanent retirement homes to people over the age of 55.

Fife Council previously gave permission to build a suite of houses on the derelict site, but developers ran into unforeseen issues and expenses that made the housing development “commercially unviable”.

Glenrothes based-Easy Living Developments said the big electricity pylon and overhead transmission lines have proved “too costly to remove or deviate”, and the site’s industrial history means that it must carry out “considerable” investigations and intrusive, and expensive, ground works to remove any and all contamination before work can start. “A successful housing development has proven to be commercially unviable and hence the site remains undeveloped and will continue to do so unless a suitable alternative proposal is given suitable consideration,” a planning statement explained.

That’s why they returned with new plans to build caravan style houses on pitches instead of traditional houses. Developers believe this is the “most cost-effective way to bring the site back into beneficial use”.

The former sawmill is presently unused and overgrown, according to the planning request. All that remains of its former uses is some hardstanding scattered throughout the overgrown site.

The council got 20 objections from concerned local residents who believe the retirement village will have negative impacts on the town – particularly around flooding.

“Flooding is a major factor and [...] adding more housing will only affect the drainage more,” an objector stated.

The objector believed the concrete pads that the lodges will sit on will contribute to the existing flooding problem with water “flowing down” into an area that “already been badly affected with flooding”.

Another added: “Trynlaw gardens sits in front of the site and is flooded each year with run off from the Sawmill site. This would be exacerbated by the plans to install concrete pads. Flooding in this area should be taken seriously.”

Objectors also raised concerns about building more housing on roads which they believe “would not be able to support the extra traffic”.

Easy Living Developments recognised the concerns about flooding and traffic, but assured people that their proposals contain “approaches to be adopted for dealing with surface water run off” which will “create betterment and alleviate concerns of potential flooding” for residents near the site.

Developers responded: “There is a choice between leaving the site in its present condition with flooding and surface water run-off issues continually causing problems for residents; or, alternatively, developing the site with structures that will be less visually intrusive, installing a surface water drainage design to overcome the flooding problems for local residents and providing a type of housing to meet an identified need.”

Planning officers and North East planning councillors were minded to agree. “There’s a fair amount of anxiety about these proposals, but if we have soak aways and surface water drainage systems, I would hope the situation is improved,” Councillor Margaret Kennedy (Lib-Dem for Cupar) said.