FIFE Council have successfully secured more than £3.1 million to restore an abandoned mine at Oakley.

The Press told you in September that the council won a legal battle with the Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance PLC to recover funds to restore the former Blair House opencast coal site.

The council took legal action following the ending of mining at the Blair House site in November 2013.

The site had been left in a derelict state when the Scottish Coal Company went into liquidation in April 2013, raising concerns over the safety and future use of the site.

Fife Council have now recovered the full amount of the restoration bond which will now allow plans to restore the site to progress.

Cllr Alice McGarry, Convener, South West Fife Area Committee & Planning Committee, said: "This is a great outcome for the environment, and for the residents of Oakley and surrounding areas. In the coming months, Fife Council will work with the current site owners, MRL (Mines Restoration Limited), and the local Community Councils, to finalise the restoration plan and remove this unsightly and potentially dangerous site from the countryside."

The Scottish Mines Restoration Trust (SMRT) works with communities and other stakeholders involved in the opencast mine restoration process, to address the issues left by unrestored opencast sites where coaling has ceased.

Professor Russel Griggs OBE, SMRT chairman, said: “This is a very positive development for the future of Blair House and has the potential to have a significant impact on the site and the surrounding community.

“Our objective has always been to deliver a pragmatic approach to restoration. We’re looking forward to working with all of the stakeholders involved to help facilitate a sustained programme of activity, which will incorporate significant land and environmental works.

“We are committed to working with Fife Council and the local community councils involved to finalise a restoration plan that makes best use of the available funds to improve the environment for local people."

Cllr Altany Craik, Convener, Economy, Tourism, Strategic Planning & Transportation Committee, said: “I am delighted at this news and look forward to the restoration of the Blair House site beginning as soon as possible. Fife Council’s Legal and Planning teams have worked tirelessly over a number of years to secure this victory, which means that all three of Fife’s opencast coal sites that were abandoned when the market for coal collapsed now have restoration budgets.

"St Ninians at Kelty has been restored and is in aftercare, the remediation of the Muir Dean site at Crossgates is nearing completion, and now we have much-needed funding to achieve the restoration of Blair House. This legal victory means that there will be no lasting environmental legacy in Fife arising from the coal market crisis of 2013."