THE 84 new homes being built in Aberdour will be "obsolete" in a few years' time and could leave their owners having to pay up to £20,000 extra to make them more energy-efficient.

That's according to Richard Luxmoore, who lives in the village and accused Cala Homes of not erecting zero carbon properties because they "can't be bothered".

The 66-year-old, a former head of nature conservation at the National Trust for Scotland, said: "Most of the new houses being built by the big developers are going to be obsolete in about five years' time.

"They're perfectly capable of building zero carbon homes but they can't be bothered as it undermines their profits.

"We wrote to Cala to suggest, as a gesture to COP26, that the biggest development that's ever taken place in Aberdour should be zero carbon.

"If they just build it to normal standards, it'll be the houseowners who suffer the expense of having to make their home zero carbon.

"And it's an awful lot cheaper to do it now than to retrofit later. It could cost £15,000 to £20,000."

Cala Homes were finally given planning permission to develop a site south of Main Street earlier this year.

Fife Council had rejected their proposals, there were more than 800 objections, but the decision was overturned on appeal by the Scottish Government.

Cala are set to start work on site in January and said they would "create some of the most energy-efficient new-build homes that have been built in Aberdour".

Mr Luxmoore said: "While that's true, the last big development here was probably in the 1970s.

"Anyone building new homes shouldn't be putting gas central heating boilers in as they will have to be ripped out in a few years.

"It makes no sense at all. It should be ground source or air source heat pumps.

"In order to do that, you need various things in place, a high standard of insulation to start with and either underfloor heating pipes or large radiators.

"Our house is now more or less zero carbon but we had to retrofit it and it's an older house so it cost a lot to do.

"It really doesn't cost very much at the building stage but Cala are leaving that expense to prospective homeowners who may be forced to do it later to comply with new standards."

He added: "They've said they can't roll out zero carbon measures across their whole organisation but that's a smokescreen.

"We're only talking about Aberdour so why not use it as a test case?

"What is Cala's response to the climate emergency?

"They've dragged their feet for 15 years and aren't prepared to take any forward steps to take the lead in energy efficiency."

Steven Cooper, planning manager with Cala, said their new homes would exceed the highest current standards and achieve A-rated energy performance certificates.

He added: "Our homes will include energy-saving and carbon-reducing measures such as electric vehicle charging and PV panels, which connect to a new smart hot water system and could reduce hot water energy consumption by 20 per cent.

“As a business, we are embracing sustainability as a priority and delivering tangible change. We are proud to be working closely with industry bodies and utility providers, helping to inform decisions and overcome the challenges faced in scaling up the use of new technology and modern methods of construction.

“We have put sustainability at the heart of our business and are committed to building homes that are operationally net zero carbon from 2030, and reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by the Scottish Government’s 2045 target and ahead of the UK Government’s 2050 target.”