SEVEN years after first submitting their proposals, a development company is looking for a firm to build 140 homes north of Wellwood.

Ominvale Ltd, of Nottinghamshire, applied for planning permission in principle in January 2017 but this was refused by Fife Council, only to be overturned last year by the Scottish Government.

Having finally secured consent, they're now trying to sell the 14 acre site - it's north of the old primary school and east of the A823 road - to a developer to take the project forward.

A spokesperson for Omnivale said: "We have interest in the site and hopefully we'll soon be reaching an agreement with a housebuilder."

Dunfermline Press: The 140 homes will be built on land to the north of Wellwood. The 140 homes will be built on land to the north of Wellwood. (Image: Google Maps)

The disagreement and subsequent refusal from the council in 2019 related to the level of developer contributions - money paid to local authorities to mitigate the adverse effects of new housing developments on existing infrastructure - and ended up with the company having more than £1 million shaved off their final bill.

Omnivale described the cash demands as "patently unfair, unreasonable and unlawful" and last April the government reporter sided with them.

Instead of £1.6m towards a new 14-class primary school at Wellwood, as the council asked for, they'll pay £830,000.

Initially the bill for strategic transport improvements in the area was £550,000 - the local authority later reduced this to £350,000 - but Omnivale will pay just £110,000.

The education contribution to help alleviate capacity issues at Queen Anne High School and the money for three new off-site footpaths was also much less than the council was looking for.

After the reporter's decision, the council's head of planning, Pam Ewen, said: "We're happy to see another key strategic site secure planning permission that will allow the overall development plan for Dunfermline to progress.

"We're disappointed, however, that the appeal decision has agreed a lower level of developer contributions towards the provision of road and school capacity than we had been seeking."

The site is on sale through Ryden.