PLANS for a new Burger King and Costa Coffee outlet in West Fife have been given the green light.

Members of Fife Council's Central and West Fife planning committee approved the proposals, however, its committee convener, Councillor Alice McGarry, admitted she did have reservations.

"I don't think this is the right development in the right place in a small village but I cannot find any legitimate reasons to refuse so I am going to move for approval," she said.

PVY Ltd, of Garvock Hill in Dunfermline, had applied to erect three class one retail units, two café/restaurant units (class 3) with associated drive-thru element and one cafe/restaurant unit with associated parking and external works on land to the west of Macdonald Square in Halbeath Main Street.

They say Burger King and Costa Coffee would each have a drive-thru and there will be 86 parking spaces on the site between Main Street and the A907 dual carriageway.

The development includes the former Halbeath filling station but not the derelict Hotel Roma and the applicant said the proposals would bring jobs and an empty site back into use.

At Tuesday's meeting, Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay councillor David Coleman raised his concerned that planners had not included conditions about opening hours for all of the outlets.

"We could have 24-hour operations and some angry residents who colleagues will have to deal with," he said. "At the last planning meeting, we had the same situation at Tesco at Duloch and the houses were further away and one thing we got changed was the opening hours from 24 hours.

"I am concerned about the impact it will have on residents with cars going into these areas and it could be 24 hours a day."

As a result of the concerns, councillors agreed with a vote of 11 to two to include a planning condition that all units on the site would have operating hours of between 7am and 11pm.

In a report to councillors, it was revealed that here had been 16 objections and one letter of support for the application with concerns including noise, litter, anti-social behaviour, vandalism, road safety and queuing traffic, as well as land ownership and the principle of development.

Objectors said there were already 17 fast-food venues and a 24-hour supermarket within a mile of the site while others said there was no demand for the retail units and more fast-food joints could have a detrimental impact on health and obesity levels.

However, the report to the committee stated: “The need for the development or demand for the retail units is not a material planning consideration and it is not considered that there would be any significant additional strain on local infrastructure.”

It added that the applicant had outlined measures to tackle litter and that, while anti-social behaviour was not a planning issue, the proposal “should not result in a significant increase” in trouble.