A LEGAL agreement has been reached for the building of 100 new homes on farmland in Cairneyhill.

But while there's progress on Avant Homes' plans for 13 hectares south of Pitdinnie Farm, there's a setback with the proposed community hall.

The developer offered a site for the facility but Fife Council said it was "not appropriate" and decided Avant had done enough by pledging to tackle flood problems in the village and paying for a Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA).

A council report stated: "The location would not serve the community well, would be detached from the main community and would result in a building sitting separately from the majority of other buildings.

"The development is already providing community benefit for this application through the flood attenuation and MUGA and therefore the community hall is not considered necessary for this application."

Avant, who have partnered with Robert Forrester, from the Forrester Park Golf Resort, got the go-ahead for 100 homes last August.

At the time, the council said it was contrary to the adopted local plan but "was not considered to be significantly contrary to the development plan". They also said there was a "significant shortfall" in the five-year housing land supply in the Cairneyhill area.

However, final approval for planning permission in principle was dependent on a number of conditions and the conclusion of a legal agreement – which was reached last week.

The firm have agreed that 25 per cent of the units will be affordable homes and will pay £135,000 to the council's transport fund and £90,000 towards the estimated £126,000 cost of a MUGA near the primary school.

They will also provide a playpark on the site, construct a Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SUDS) and introduce flood attenuation measures.

Avant proposed a site in Cairneyhill for a hall but it could now be provided "in a later phase of development".

The council report said: "The developer is only providing serviced land for the community hall, however, it is understood that community groups are willing to take the land to construct a community hall.

"Also further funding may be available should further phases of the northern expansion be considered acceptable."

The original application attracted more than 200 letters of objection, including one from Muir Homes.

Residents had raised a number of concerns and the council report acknowledged: "Areas of Cairneyhill have significant flooding problems and a significant concern of existing residents is that further development would exacerbate this situation.

"Based on the information submitted, the drainage and flooding consultees have concluded that the development, in principle, would not add to the flood risk for Cairneyhill."

It added: "While the flood attenuation would be unable to fully resolve the flooding issue within Cairneyhill, it would make significant progress in the eastern part of the village in this regard."

There will be two access routes from Pitdinnie Road but there was opposition from local residents to a council proposal to connect the new estate by road to Drummormie Road.

The council now propose a link "for the use of pedestrians, cyclists, public transport and emergency vehicles only".

There will be no traffic signals at the junction of Pitdinnie Road and the A994 – the council's transport team are "keen to minimise the number of signalised junctions in Fife in order to reduce operational and maintenance costs" – but the 30mph speed limit signs will be relocated and extra street lights, a puffin crossing and anti-skid surfacing will be added.

Mr Forrester, who helped establish Forrester Park Golf Resort, first outlined an ambitious £65million plan in 2009. At the time, he wanted to build a luxury five-star hotel, new nine-hole golf course, 140 houses, fishing loch, holiday chalets and an equestrian centre on land next to Pitdinnie. It didn’t get past the planning stage but the idea was reworked with the first phase set to be the housing element.