IT'S going to be all change in the north of Dunfermline with building work on the first of 1,400 houses moving ever closer.

Taylor Wimpey have planning permission to develop a huge swathe of farmland between Halbeath and Kingseat and the first phase is set to begin.

The "brand new community" called Whitefields will start to take shape with 161 new houses - including 93 affordable homes for Fife Council - built in the north-west corner of the site where Whitefield Road meets the B912 to Kingseat.

READ MORE: 'Dangerous' road junction to be removed by housing developers

That's expected to take until 2027 with a further 237 homes slated for completion by 2030, when the first phase should be finished.

Dunfermline Press: There are detailed plans for the major housing development between Halbeath and Kingseat, with 1,400 homes and a new primary school on the way. There are detailed plans for the major housing development between Halbeath and Kingseat, with 1,400 homes and a new primary school on the way. (Image: Taylor Wimpey)

It also includes major changes to the road network too.

Pauline Mills, technical director at Taylor Wimpey East Scotland, told the Press: "With the delivery of around 1,400 new homes, the creation of major new infrastructure and improvements to existing transport links, as well as the provision of substantial community benefits, Whitefields will be a brand new community and place to call home in north Dunfermline."

The plans were approved in January 2019 despite 153 objections.

The most recent applications, detailed plans for the first 161 homes and site infrastructure, are expected to be approved soon.

As well as the new homes the overall masterplan for the site, which is around 80 hectares in size, includes a primary school, shops and community facilities, new cycleways and pedestrian footpaths, meadow grasslands and open space, a play area and measures to enhance the area for local wildlife and improve biodiversity through features such as bug hotels and hedgehog highways.

As part of a legal agreement, Taylor Wimpey will pay around £23 million.

There will be four main phases with phase one taking place in the north west of the site.

The Wester Whitefield farm buildings were bought and demolished to make way for development in this location.

As well as four residential 'pods' totalling 398 houses, phase one includes the re-routing of Whitefield Road into the site to become a main 'spine' street - with the existing stretch up to the junction with Kingseat Road to be for pedestrians and cyclists only - and the first part of the Northern Link Road (NLR).

Dunfermline Press: The level crossing at Halbeath will go as part of Taylor Wimpey's housing development. The level crossing at Halbeath will go as part of Taylor Wimpey's housing development. (Image: Newsquest)

It's a £20 million-plus bypass running from Halbeath to Milesmark that will serve the new housing estates in the north of Dunfermline, where around 3,000 new homes will be built, and take traffic away from the city centre.

The B912 road to Kingseat, which will become part of the NLR, will be upgraded.

The carriageway will be six metres wide with a two metre grass verge on either side and a three metre-wide path, to be shared by cyclists and pedestrians, on the southern side of the road.

The mini roundabout, where Robertson Road meets Whitefield Road, will be removed and traffic lights installed instead.

There will also be traffic lights where the newly re-routed Whitefield Road meets the B912 / NLR and a mini roundabout is proposed at the northern junction of Whitefield Road and Queen Margaret Fauld.