A Fife minister has been granted planning permission to turn a former hotel in Leslie into homeless accommodation.
Rev Ryan Robertson wants to transform the 15-bedroom Greenside Hotel into a new type of residential care facility.
And it would be the first of it’s kind in Fife, and possibly Scotland.
Mr Robertson’s idea is to provide treatment and counselling for people with drug and alcohol problems.
Residents will also be offered training and life skills before being helped to find a place to live.
And there will be a community aspect, with groups and services – including a foodbank – run for locals.
But the idea has proved controversial among several Leslie residents.
They fear his “zero tolerance” approach to drugs on the premises will lead to problems spilling out onto the streets.
Mr Robertson is one of five directors of New Hope Community House Ltd, which applied for permission to convert the hotel.
But while members of the central and west planning committee backed the application, they made it clear planning consent is only the first step.
The company must now apply for a licence and other permissions to actually operate the hostel.
Objections to Greenside Hotel plan
More than 30 people lodged formal objections to the proposal but planning officer Brian Forsyth said few of them related to planning matters.
Many questioned Mr Robertson’s qualifications to run the facility and pointed out other groups nearby already provided similar services.
Some said the proposal was “very loose and fluffy”.
And they raised fears about “vulnerable and desperate” people being left to walk the streets if they were turned away at night.
One local man said: “We have asked a lot of questions and there doesn’t appear to be any answers.”
Pub crawl capital
Some councillors agreed with those concerns.
Labour member Derek Noble said: “When people are turning up at the building under the influence of drugs or alcohol, that could have a knock-on effect on residents.
“I’m not against people being rehabilitated but I think this will have a knock-on effect.”
However, Fife Council co-leader David Alexander argued drunk people had spilled from the building even when it was a hotel.
“If you know Leslie, you’ll know it had more pubs than anywhere else in our part of Fife,” he said. It was the pub crawl capital.”
While that’s no longer the case, Mr Alexander reminded members they must only take planning considerations into account when making a decision.
“Be aware, if you get this wrong and reject it for the wrong reasons it could cost us thousands,” he said.
And council solicitor Mary McLean added that other regulators would get involved in other aspects of the application.
“Any anti-social behaviour is not within the control of the planning remit,” she said.
“That would be a police matter.”
The people behind the proposal
Rev Ryan Robertson is the minister at Glenrothes-based New Hope Community Church.
It is an independent church that doesn’t appear to be affiliated to any mainstream denomination.
He helped form New Hope Community House Ltd in May and intends to run it as a not-for-profit company aimed at preventing or relieving poverty.
And it will work on the hostel plans with his church, Parish Nursing and Christians Against Poverty.