A controversial proposal to expand Cupar has taken a significant step forward with the submission of plans to Fife Council a decade after it was first mooted.
A consortium of housebuilders has applied for planning permission to build 1,480 new homes along the Fife town’s northern boundary in a scheme opponents say would be bigger than Newburgh.
Cupar North Consortium also proposes a new primary school, improvements to Bell Baxter High School and business and employment land.
The principal of major expansion was established in the Fife Structure Plan and, if approved, would create a series of housing areas stretching from the western A91 entrance almost to the trading estate.
Many fear it would cause disruption for 25 years and that the bypass would take custom away from local shops.
However, Cupar North Consortium which comprises Persimmon Homes North Scotland, Headon Developments and Vico Properties said it would bring more than 700 jobs to the local economy.
Consortium planning consultant David Wardrop said: “The Cupar North scheme is designed to deliver secured long-term benefits to Cupar with much needed new homes and job opportunities for local people whilst also providing infrastructure and a considerable economic benefit to existing local businesses.”
One of those in opposition is resident and community councillor Gina Logan, who said Cupar North would be larger than nearby Newburgh.
She said: “We are not against new housing in Cupar, we are against the scale of this development.
“We don’t want Cupar to have another Duloch. People from there don’t go into Dunfermline. If this happened here the heart of Cupar would be gone.”