Today one of our volunteers received a letter from the Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals with regards to the small store to be located at the FabTek site. We have published the letter in full below

Telephone: 01324 696 400
Fax: 01324 696 444
E-mail: dpea@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Our Ref: PPA-250-2044

23 July 2010

Dear Sir

TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING (SCOTLAND) ACT 1997
PLANNING PERMISSION APPEAL: LAND TO THE SOUTH OF HALL STREET, LOCHGELLY, FIFE

I am informing you that the above mentioned appeal has been allowed by the Reporter and that planning permission in principle has been granted.

The Reporter’s decision is final, subject to the right of any aggrieved person to apply to the Court of Session within six weeks from the date of the decision conferred by sections 237 and 239* of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997; on any such application, the Court may quash the decision if satisfied that it is not within the powers of the Act or that the applicant’s interests have been substantially prejudiced by a failure to comply with any requirement of the Act, or of the Tribunals and Inquires Act 1992, or of any orders, regulations or rules made under these Acts.

If you wish to have a copy of the decision letter please contact this office in writing. A copy of the decision letter will also be normally be available from our web site www.dpea.scotland.gov.uk no later than the the following working day from the date of this letter.

Yours Faithfully

EMMA BROWN

4 The Courtyard, Callendar Business Park, Falkirk, FK1 1XR
DX 557005 FALKIRK
www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Planning/Appeals

Admin Note: * Details of Sections 237 and 239 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 can be found at: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1997/ukpga_19970008_en_19

So the small store that was heavily objected to on this site and the official Fife Council site, rejected by the public at the Lochgelly Charrette, has been given the go ahead.

With this store given the go ahead we wont get the much needed petrol station and supermarket at the WeatherMac site, even though from the poll we have been conducting shows that 221 votes were in favour of this development, 11 votes against, and 3 unsure.

Would you like a Supermarket to be built on the former Weathermac site (Auchterderran Road)?

  • Yes (94%, 221 Votes)
  • No (5%, 11 Votes)
  • Don’t Know (1%, 4 Votes)

Total Voters: 236

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We have been in touch with McDonald Estates (the developer behind the proposed Supermarket with Petrol Station) for their feedback, but unfortunately at the time of writing this, the person dealing with this development was out of the office, but is due to call us back. We will update this post once we receive a reply.

Court of Session

According to the letter everyone has up to 6 weeks to apply to the Court of Session if they are aggrieved by the decision, and want the decision to be quashed, but fail to mention the contact details for the Court. We have published their contact details below:

  • Court of Session
    Parliament House
    Parliament Square
    Edinburgh
    EH1 1RQ
    DX: 549306 Edinburgh 36
    Telephone: 0131-225-2595
    Fax: 0131-240-6711
    Email: supreme.courts@scotcourts.gov.uk

Do our opinions mean anything?

Personally, we feel that Fife Council and some of the Local Councillors have failed us on one of the biggest issues facing Lochgelly recently (and thanks to the local councillors that fought on everyone’s behalf), and as time passes, we are sure we will see many other failures to listen and carry out the wishes of local residents. The small store was heavily objected to, yet it was still included in the Lochgelly Charrette which was meant to be a public consultation.

Then there is still the issue of Lochgelly Golf Course, but will this still be given over to developers for housing? Probably.

Also, one rumour that we found to be most worrisome, is the independence of the Scottish Reporter (Mr Michael Shiel MA (Cantab) BPhil MRTPI) who was investigating the issues and objections that were raised by the local community. We have heard from 2 sources that the Michael Shiel is employed by Fife Council.

We cannot confirm this rumour, but if it is true, it raises the question of the validity of the report made by the Scottish Reporter. Was he working towards the goal of Fife Council or towards the benefit of the Lochgelly Community?

Feedback

If you want to leave any feedback on this issue please comment in the boxes below or head over to the forum (no registration required) – http://lochgelly.org.uk/?page_id=2232&vasthtmlaction=viewtopic&t=14.0

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