Published: Thursday, 2nd July, 2009 8:25am

Impasse on danger road due to planning breach, says MSP

by Matt Meade

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A WEST FIFE MSP has accused a Dunfermline developer of shirking responsibility after financial woes meant they failed to provide a £350,000 "ghost lane" for residents living beside a notorious trunk road.

Moncor Ltd, Muir Road, were contractually obliged to include the extra turning lane on the A985 Rosyth to Kincardine road outside their new development at Waulkmill Farm, near Crombie.

Now Lib Dem MSP Jim Tolson fears the work will never be completed as the company has run into difficulties.

He told the Press that drivers" lives were at risk every time they tried to leave or turn into their homes.

He said, 'There is a real problem for residents and people at the farm, because they (Moncor) haven"t done the work required.

'The junction is on the inside of a bend so drivers have to go right out to the end until they can see traffic.

'You also have traffic accelerating coming out of Crombie, coming down round the bend. You have to have a free flow of traffic but because there isn"t a right turn, that"s a danger. It"s a busy trunk road so any junction (built) can"t be a little fix. The responsibility has been shirked as far as I"m concerned.'

Mr Tolson met Fife Council planning officials to discuss the problem. He will also highlight the issue in a letter to transport minister Stewart Stevenson.

He added, 'It"s a major stalemate. If the case is taken to the procurator fiscal it will go to court, the maximum fine is £300.'

The MSP said that if the council served an enforcement notice on Moncor Ltd, legal intricacies could have meant householders at the Waulkmill Farm development finding themselves 'partly-responsible' for complying with it.

Instead, a breach of condition notice has been approved by a council committee and is currently being drawn up by their legal department, meaning only Moncor Ltd will be pursued.

'While I would encourage the procurator fiscal to look seriously at this, there"s little point in pursuing a case that would only lead to a paltry fine,' Mr Tolson said.

The application to build the nine houses at Waulkmill Farm dates back to 2004 and was approved in 2005.

It allowed Moncor Ltd to convert the farm steading into houses as well as adding new builds, all of which are now occupied.

A council spokesman said, 'They basically knew what the rules were when we gave them the conditions in 2005.

'We can either put conditions on a consent or ask that the applicant signs a legal agreement that requires them to do certain things.

'What"s happened in this case is that we decided a condition would be sufficient.

'This condition to create a ghost turning lane before the occupation of the first dwelling house was put onto the application. But for whatever reason, the developer has decided not to do it. It"s a very unfortunate set of circumstances.'

Moncor co-director John McNeely said he was aware the condition was in the planning documents but that the company were 'in difficulty' .

He added, 'Due to the credit crunch, at the moment we are inactive. I wouldn"t really want to comment further on this at the moment'.