Inverkeithing in line for £5m sports academy backed by Sir Alex

The Manchester United manager has already agreed to be patron to a facility in the town that could be built on a four-acre site, complete with an indoor astroturf pitch.

It would also have a sports injury clinic and close links with nearby Inverkeithing High School. An ambitious masterplan would also put "significant" sums of money into a community fund to revamp the town, including run-down Fraser Avenue and Ballast Bank.

That's the carrot.

But it's all dependent on a change to Fife Council's Dunfermline and West Fife draft local plan to allow housing at Spencerfield, currently an area of farmland between Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay.

The blunt warning has come from the Alfred Stewart Property Foundation (ASP), which will "walk away" from the town if they don't get the backing for their housing plan. ASP is the operating company of the Alfred Stewart Trust, which was set up after the late developer's death in 2008 and, in accordance with Mr Stewart's will, the legacy is to use his estate for the benefit of the people of Dunfermline and West Fife.

One of their plans is to build 450 homes at Spencerfield and gift land at the site to the Norrie McCathie Benevolent Fund for the establishment of a sports academy.

As a charitable foundation, ASP said they would then use the profits from the housing to spend on improving Inverkeithing.

Spokesman Roano Pierotti said, "The trust would make a profit from this land, pay the landowner and then put the rest of the profit back into Inverkeithing.

"As an example, we've said we could put money into Ballast Bank." This could include upgrading the football pitch, putting a running track round it, building a community pavilion with better changing rooms, creating attractive landscaping and a new coastal path.

He continued, "If we get the allocation we will give the land to the Norrie McCathie Benevolent Fund for their sports academy.

"We're not building it for them but giving them the start they require by providing land at no cost.

"But it all rests on us getting the allocation for these houses.

"If we don't get it we'll walk away." It had been hoped to site a sports academy at Pitreavie playing fields in Dunfermline but progress has been slow.

The Norrie McCathie Benevolent Fund now want it to be built in Inverkeithing and a spokesman said, "We are extremely impressed by the approach that Alfred Stewart Trust and its operating company have taken to focusing on the regeneration and investment needs of the town and we look forward to continuing to work with them on our plans for a sports academy which are also backed by its patron, Sir Alex Ferguson." One of the trustees, former councillor Alan Kenney, said, "One of the most important aspects of the sports academy is that it would be a trust.

"Any profit generated goes back into the community, it's not a private commercial business." Mr Pierotti added, "It fits very well with what we're about and it's a double whammy for Inverkeithing.

"It's easy for us to gift the land because it's extra to what we require.

"But, because ASP is also a trust, the profits from the housing also go back into the town. It wins twice." However, the masterplan needs public support and a change in the draft local plan, which sets out what can be built and where over the next decade.

It follows the Fife Structure Plan, which stipulates that 600 houses should be built in Inverkeithing over the next 15 years.

In the initial draft local plan, Spencerfield was selected by council planners as a housing site but councillors at the South West Fife area committee objected and it was removed by the planning committee.

At present, the draft local plan states that houses should be built on sites at RM Supplies and the old Caldwell's paper mill instead.

ASP say both these sites are unsuitable and incapable of producing the number of houses the structure plan demands.

The draft local plan will be the subject of an examination - formerly a public enquiry - early next year and adopted in 2012.

Mr Pierotti said, "This is effectively the plan that officers wanted but local members were against.

"The professional planners and officers have always supported it, now we hope the councillors and people of Inverkeithing will too." Inverkeithing Community Council was briefed on the plans on Monday and chair Shirley Currie said, "Our initial reaction is we're a bit wary.

"We're just not keen on 400-odd houses being squeezed into a field but what we'll do is have an open meeting at the civic centre and see what the public think.

"The last review the community council did, about this time last year, there were 73 per cent who didn't want any building outwith the town.

"They were worried about the amalgamation with Dalgety Bay and the implications for Preston Quarry.

"In a way, they're not offering any more than any developer would but we'll listen to what they have to say and we did appreciate they came to us first."