Plans are under way to transform a former opencast mine into a tourism and leisure facility.
The aim of the site is to "promote health and wellness within a sustainable ecology park, providing places for relaxation and rejuvenation, whilst at the same time providing local economic benefits through leisure, entertainment and tourism".
Proposals to develop an "environmentally sensitive mixed-use eco-wellness and leisure park" at the site of the former St Ninians opencast mine, next to Kelty and Kingseat in Fife, are being progressed by the developers National Pride (St Ninians) Ltd.
Irene Bisset, chair of National Pride CIC and director of National Pride (St Ninians) Ltd said: "We are very excited about the enormous potential of this astonishing site.
"As custodians, we take our responsibilities very seriously and our aim is to deliver an attractive, welcoming place for all."
Education and training opportunities, especially for vulnerable adults, will be included and the project will create significant employment, supporting local businesses in the supply chain.
National Pride (St Ninians) Ltd is required to undertake pre-application consultation because of its scale, starting with the submission of a Proposal of Application Notice (PAN). This notifies Fife Council that it will be bringing forward an application for Planning Permission in Principle (PPiP), anticipated to take place by the end of the first quarter of 2024, following a minimum 12-week period of community consultation.
PPiP aims to establish the principle of development of the site and will be supported by a masterplan, outlining how the St Ninians and Loch Fitty area will be enhanced.
Prior to the application submission, two public consultations will be held locally inviting comments on the proposals. The first public consultation will be a high-level overview of the proposed development, with the second public consultation bringing forward responses gained from the first public consultation comments.
These will be held at Kingseat Community Centre on Thursday February 8, and on Thursday March 7, at Kelty Community Centre respectively, both between 3.30pm and 7.30pm.
A project website has been created at www.stninianswellness.com and will be updated over the course of the consultation period.
Historic bookshop to close after 144 years
A historic bookshop in a Scots town is to close its doors for good.
J&G Innes Ltd has been selling newspapers and magazines, art supplies, books, gifts and maps for generations at its premises in St Andrews for over 140 years. Also known as "The Citizen Shop", J&G Innes Ltd is the oldest independently run bookshop in the Fife town.
Stuart PM Mackintosh: Central banks should get back to basics
Central banks and governments across the advanced economies from America to the European Union, to Japan, to the United Kingdom, continue to grapple with the post-pandemic supply-chain and energy-price-driven inflationary spike that is impoverishing poorer citizens, straining public and private budgets, and stressing societies.
As central banks hike interest rates to levels not seen in decades, it is fair and appropriate to ask: what were the policy mistakes that contributed to the current painful inflationary period?
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.Â
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.Â
That is invaluable.Â
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here