A multi-million pound boost has been given to the regeneration of a former Fife opencast site.
Fife Council has secured more than £3.1 million from Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance to restore the Blair House site near Oakley, having settled its lengthy legal battle with the company out of court.
Blair House was left in a derelict state when the Scottish Coal Company went into liquidation in 2013, prompting fears around the site’s safety.
A restoration bond arranged with RSA dictated if no remedial work was carried out, the council would receive the money.
However, RSA argued circumstances of the closure meant the bond did not apply.
Fife Council has now recovered the full amount of the bond which will allow restoration plans to move forward with site owner Mines Restoration Limited and local community councils finalising the restoration plan.
Scottish Mines Restoration Trust chairman Russel Griggs said: “This is a very positive development for the future of Blair House and has the potential to have a significant impact on the site and the surrounding community.
“Our objective has always been to deliver a pragmatic approach to restoration.”
Fife’s economy, tourism strategic planning and transportation convener, Labour councillor Altany Craik, said: “Fife Council’s legal and planning teams have worked tirelessly over a number of years to secure this victory, which means that all three of Fife’s opencast coal sites that were abandoned when the market for coal collapsed now have restoration budgets.
“St Ninians at Kelty has been restored and is in aftercare, the remediation of the Muir Dean site at Crossgates is nearing completion, and now we have much-needed funding to achieve the restoration of Blair House.
“This legal victory means that there will be no lasting environmental legacy in Fife arising from the coal market crisis of 2013.”
