THOSE behind proposals for a mixed development on the former Comrie Colliery site have been informed an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) will be required as part of the planning application.

A screening request had been submitted to Fife Council who have deemed that the EIA is necessary.

It is hoped that a mixed use development could be built at the site which would include leisure and tourism uses, employment, retail, retirement homes, residential, renewable energy, open space, woodland planting and management, path and cycle network and associated works.

The old Comrie Colliery, on Saline Road, has been undergoing regeneration works by the Comrie Development Company (CDC) since 2021 to make it "development ready" for tourism, leisure, business and residential uses.

As reported by the Press last month, the 495-acre piece of land is now back up for sale.

Comrie Colliery opened in 1939 and it operated under lease from 1963 until its closure in 1986 but mining has taken place in the same location since at least the 1860s.

Public consultation on proposals for a major development at the site took place in September and October last year and those interested were given the opportunity to comment on potential plans for leisure and tourism, employment, retail, retirement homes, residential, geothermal energy, open space, landscape works and paths.

Then, the application to Fife Council from CDC stated: "The structures associated with the colliery and coal carbonisation plant have been demolished."

According to the sale advert, formal pre-application advice has been sought from Fife Council, who are supportive of the redevelopment, with around 220 acres earmarked for residential buildings.

It suggests that this space could accommodate between 400-500 houses, with scope to increase this figure to "well in excess of 1,000 units".