There is a risk of subsidence on the proposed site, to the north and east of Halbeath Retail Park, which could cost £600,000 to fix.

Royal London Mutual Insurance lodged a planning application with Fife Council to extend the park and build seven new shops – which would include Lidl.

But a coal mining report submitted on their behalf concluded, “The site can be considered as minerally unstable with unconsolidated mine workings across the whole site. Consolidation of mine workings will be required below all buildings and preferably below the principal service access road due to a potential diverted gas main.” Goodson Associates of Edinburgh said the site was “potentially unstable with regards to residual subsidence” and “requires remedial action”, while the “car-parking areas are also liable to potential subsidence effects”.

It said, “In regard to abnormal costs relating to the stabilisation of mine workings and the location and treatment of three mine entries, we believe a figure of the order of £600,000 to be appropriate for budget planning purposes.” It’s thought there were two separate opencast mines on the site around 100 years ago and the Goodson report added, “The findings of the ground investigation seem to contradict significantly the original reports and this is of some surprise. However, we believe the foregoing accurately indicates the extent of mineral stability issues beneath the currently proposed development.” Despite the hefty price tag to make the site safe for development, it won’t affect the plans. Royal London Asset Management manages the retail park and fund manager Michael Lawrence told the Press, “We are aware of the ground conditions and have factored the associated costs into our plans. Based on our current assessment we will be going ahead with the development as proposed.” Last month they confirmed they want to build a large, stand alone unit of 23,450 sq ft, to be occupied by a “leading discount retailer”, on the 4.68 hectares site. They did not name their client but it was widely believed to be Lidl, and the firm later confirmed they were hoping to open a store here.

The proposals include a new 12,500 sq ft unit, three units of 10,000 sq ft each, a 5000 sq ft unit and a smaller 1775 sq ft stand alone unit for a drive-through coffee outlet.

The firm also wants a revised service route, landscaping, cycle racks, trolley bays, road safety measures and improved pedestrian links across the park.

Dunfermline MP Thomas Docherty said he was in favour of the Lidl store proposals but totally opposed to the new “shoe and fashion shops”.

He was concerned that the other units would draw shoppers away from Dunfermline town centre and “kill the High Street”, Halbeath Retail Park currently consists of nine retail units – Homebase, B&M Homestore, Harveys, Carpetright, Dixons (trading as Currys/PC World), Halfords, Argos and Pets at Home plus a vacant unit.

Mr Lawrence said there were new retailers who were interested in opening up here while the discount food retailer would “complement” the nearby Asda.

He added, “The types of retailer being targeted are toy shops, general merchandising (discount) household goods stores, sports retailers as well as furniture stores which are not represented in Dunfermline.”