DEVELOPERS behind plans to build a new M&S Foodhall and Lidl in Dunfermline could be set to challenge a £700,000 transport bill.

Last February, councillors gave the go-ahead for nine shops and food outlets to be built on land to the north of Halbeath Retail Park on condition that they pay £703,000 towards a transport strategy to ease congestion in the area.

Improvements would include a new northern link road and upgrades at the junction of Halbeath and Whitefield Road. 

But developers Royal London Asset Management want that planning obligation removed and took the challenge to Fife Council’s west planning committee last Wednesday. 

After members refused the request, Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay Councillor David Dempsey said he feared what it would cost the council if Royal London decided to appeal their decision. 

“The nagging fear, in all of these sorts of things, is if this ends up in court somehow,” he said.

“While there are some not very nice lawyers, there are some not very nice lawyers who could make buckets of money out of it.”

Royal London have argued that they should be exempt from paying the £703,000 transport contribution because the only unit that the condition applies to has a floor space less than the threshold of 27,000 square feet. 

However, the council say that the whole of the development should be taken into account. 

When asked by the Press if they would be appealing the decision, a spokeswoman for Royal London said it was something they “would not be commenting on”.