WEST Fife communities are celebrating after councillors voted to remove eight controversial sites for development under the FIFEplan.

Plots at Main Street, Aberdour; Barns Farm, Dalgety Bay; Spencerfield, Inverkeithing; Woodend Place and Black Road, Kelty; and Pitconochie Farm, Crossford are now off the table as proposed housing sites.

Residents had fiercely opposed their development and now the executive committee has removed the sites from the FIFEplan, together with East Loan in Falkland and Chapel Home Farm in Kirkcaldy.

As part of the next round of consultations, council officers have also been asked to promote and develop a masterplan for the Rosyth Waterfront.

The plans had proposed an estimated 50 houses at the Aberdour site; 100 at Barns Farm; 330 at Spencerfield; 20 each at Woodend Place and Black Road; and 200 at Pitconochie.

Fife Council had already allocated land around Dunfermline for 4200 homes – yet to be built – under the Dunfermline and West Fife Local Plan, adopted in 2012.

However, the FIFEplan supersedes the Local Plan and the Scottish Government wants the local authority to find new plots for another 2500 houses.

Inverkeithing councillor Alice McGarry welcomed Spencerfield’s removal but warned “the war isn’t won”.

She told the Press, “Everybody is very pleased. Spencerfield is a lovely site with so much wildlife and landscape value but there are still dangers ahead.

“A lot of developers are not happy with this outcome and my main concern is that when the development plan goes for examination, as it will, they will put their case forward to the Scottish Government’s Reporter.

“The council have previously been told by the Reporter they had to take account of the Spencerfield situation and accommodate the plan, and had to make real reasons for the site not to be included.

“But the council were set on including Spencerfield. So we hope we get a Reporter who shares the view of the one who turned Taylor Wimpey’s appeal down recently.” Councillor Bob Young, for Crossford, said the village was “delighted” Pitconochie Farm was taken out.

He added, “Nobody wanted it. There was no support for it at all.

“If you start building on the west side of Crossford and the east side of Cairneyhill, the two are going to start linking up and you’re just going to get one big village.” West Fifers will now get their say on the proposed FIFEplan – minus the eight sites – which will be published for a six-week consultation at the end of October.

Councillor Lesley Laird, who moved for the sites’ removal, explained, “There has been a significant process of consultation both internally and externally on the proposed Local Development Plan before it has been brought to the executive.

“It is extremely positive that a consensus has been achieved on the vast majority of the 280 candidate sites submitted for consideration.

“Notwithstanding this, it is clear that the area committees have some concerns about a small number of the sites, and it is right that the executive should take those concerns on board.” She added, “We note that local south-west members raised concerns about the development of Rosyth Waterfront.

“We acknowledge that this is a strategic industrial site but also recognise the local community desire to see this area developed. As part of the next round of consultation we ask officers to actively promote and develop a masterplan for this area.”