A £180 million super-campus could be the centrepiece of a wider masterplan for a former “white elephant” factory site in Fife, The Courier can reveal.
Proposals have been laid out for the education hub in Dunfermline which will encompass the new Fife College campus and replacements for both Woodmill High School – which was badly damaged by fire last year – and St Columba’s High School.
It has emerged the blueprint for the former Hyundai/Freescale site is much more ambitious than previously thought, with 450 homes, a 90-bed care home, 17 assisted living apartments and a nursery.
A pub/restaurant, drive-through coffee shop and a 16-pump petrol filling station are also all envisaged for the land off Dunlin Drive.
‘A new masterplan with revised uses is urgently required’
Planning permission in principle is being sought by developers and if the revised masterplan for the area is pursued, hundreds of jobs would be in the pipeline.
The site was home to a specially-built Hyundai plant which was never brought into operational use.
A supporting statement from Colliers International, acting on behalf of site owners Shepherd Offshore, urged councillors to back the plans later this year.
It reads: “We believe that in order for this site, which is located within a highly sustainable and accessible location, to be developed, a new masterplan with revised uses is urgently required.
“This will assist delivery from known end users allowing the site to be transformed from its currently vacant state to being fully developed out.
“In terms of future employment opportunities on the site, if any of the education land does not come forward for these uses, it can revert to use class 4/5/6.
“Additionally, the education, nursery, care home, pub/restaurant, petrol filling station and coffee drive through unit will all provide significant employment opportunities on this site which is currently vacant and delivering no jobs.
“We therefore believe these new uses should be granted planning permission in principle.
“This is now all the more pertinent to assist the economy recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Central to the plans is the new Dunfermline Learning Campus, which will take in two new secondary schools with a combined school roll of around 2,700 pupils and 246 staff.
The new Fife College campus building, which will replace the existing Dunfermline campus, will be home to 2,500 full-time equivalent students with 350 staff.
