COUNCILLORS have agreed unanimously to support Rosyth FC in their pitch battle to get the sporting facilities they were promised.

Three years after leaving Recreation Park to make way for a Lidl supermarket, the club are still homeless as the new ground that was part of the deal between Fife Council and the developer has not been delivered.

Local Tory councillor Tony Orton tabled a motion last week that said no work on the supermarket should take place until definite plans were in place to give Rosyth FC what they're due.

He said: "Despite a stated reason for the planning consent being to ensure that an alternative outdoor sports facility is provided, three years on it has not been provided.

"In addition, the planning consent for these alternative sports facilities runs out next month.

"I urge members to pass this motion to bring this unreasonable and unfair treatment of Rosyth FC to an end as soon as possible."

Fellow Rosyth councillor, the SNP's Sharon Green-Wilson, seconded the motion and added: "No matter what way you cut it, what's happened is a local football club has been left without a home and without funding."

Rosyth FC left Recreation Park in April 2018 and started playing on the South West Fife Community Sports Partnership (SWFCSP)'s 3G pitch at the Fleet Grounds.

It costs them around £5,000 a year in rent and, now without their own clubhouse and bar, they're struggling to bring in any money.

As well as a senior team, they also have around 300 kids playing under the Rosyth FC banner.

The home loss for the football club arose after Fife Council agreed in 2016 to sell Recreation Park to enable a Lidl supermarket to be built there.

Thi was on condition that the developer, Mactaggart and Mickel, provided the club with a like-for-like facility, including a grass pitch, changing rooms, fencing and parking at the Fleet Grounds.

Although planning permission is in place, the supermarket has not been built and the football club is still without its new home.

Last year, Mactaggart and Mickel asked that the condition be removed and said they'd provide £175,000 as a developer contribution to the council instead.

That was refused by councillors. The company has since upped their offer to an unspecified amount.

A further complication is that the council has approved plans for the replacement Inverkeithing High School to be built at the Fleet Grounds, which could compromise the plans for the football club.

Russell Craig, from Rosyth FC, said: "Everything we’ve been asked to do, leaving the pitch early, submitting the termination of the lease, we’ve done.

“At the end of the day, all we want is a football pitch. We’re not here to pick fights – we just want to know what’s happening and if that means asking awkward questions I don’t have any issue with that."

Alistair Mutch, the council's area manager for South and West Fife, said discussions were ongoing with Rosyth FC and SWFCSP and a meeting will take place with Mr Craig about the alternative proposals he outlined in last week's Press.

Mr Mutch added: "It's a very complex situation with a number of options having to be considered in relation to the existing site at the Fleet Grounds and the Recreation Park site.

"A positive solution needs to be found because both organisations provide a huge service to the local community by supporting football and sporting activity with children and young people.

"I think there will be some difficult and challenging conversations that will need to take place within the council but also the two organisations as to how we can come up with a solution that suits all concerned."

Committee convener Cllr Alice McGarry said: "We need clarity as there's a football club that's been displaced from its home without the facilities that were promised and we really need to address that."