THE firm who want to build 200 houses in Crossford have submitted an appeal after Fife Council rejected their plans.

The Stewart Milne Group have asked the Scottish Government to overturn the decision and grant approval for development on land south of Pitconnochie Farm.

An application for outline planning permission was met with 139 letters of objection and was refused last month by the west planning committee.

The development would extend, to the west, the boundary of Crossford and one of the main concerns was coalescence with Cairneyhill.

Others highlighted the impact on capacity at Crossford Primary School, flooding risks, increase in traffic, road safety, loss of green space and the land not being allocated for housing in the local development plan.

The Stewart Milne Group submitted an appeal to the Planning and Environmental Appeals Division on Tuesday.

A previous planning statement on the firm's behalf said: "The proposed development seeks to create an attractive residential environment which can provide a mix of house types and tenures through a balanced new neighbourhood.

"This will comprise homes for a wide selection of the community from first time buyers, growing families, downsizers and include 25 per cent affordable provision."

It said the development would "create a much improved settlement boundary on the western edge of Crossford" and bring in new paths and parkland, as well as traffic calming and road safety improvements.

The agents said that the site was promoted for housing in the local development plan, now FIFEplan, but was later deleted by the council's executive committee.

The Scottish reporter subsequently did not allocate the site for development but, the agents pointed out, the only "key concern" that he raised was the detrimental impact that development would have on the landscape.

They said plans could be amended to ensure this did not happen and that the reporter had ruled that school capacity was adequate, the site was not prime agricultural land, there were no concerns about vehicle access and it would not lead to coalescence with Cairneyhill.

Consultation events were held in Crossford and, while the agents acknowledged that "the majority of the attendees did not support the principle of development on this site", it was noted that "much of this feeling related to technical matters" which had been addressed in the application.