A REPORT warning that funding for a new visitor centre at Lochore Meadows could be lost has been slammed as "a disgraceful piece of scaremongering".

A protest calling for a halt to the proposed development, part of a £1.7 million investment in the country park that also includes a new golf clubhouse and changing pavilion, is to be held before a Fife Council meeting tomorrow, Tuesday.

The council said any delay could see the loss of an £83,000 grant from Sportscotland and a rise in the overall cost.

But the Lochore Meadows Panel, set up in November last year, wants the development to stop, the current finance ringfenced and a new management board created with half the members drawn from the community.

Spokesman Kevin Payne said: "We want to tell the councillors that the Meedies deserves a better visitor centre than a proposal which has been rushed through with no community consultation and no input from external funders.

"The result is a glorified portacabin almost half the size of the current centre which cannot meet the needs of the 500,000-plus people who visit the Meedies every year.

"We believe the £1.3 million Fife Council put aside for a new centre could achieve something much better, and that the project could attract considerable external funding if managed properly.

"The officers' report to the council recommending the new centre is a disgraceful piece of scare-mongering and we have written to every councillor pointing out the errors and evasions."

The project for a new visitor centre and golf clubhouse / changing pavilion has been dogged by controversy with claims of broken promises, poor management and spiralling costs.

The country park has been managed by the Fife Coast and Countryside Trust since April 2014.

The council put up £1m for a new visitor centre with the trust responsible for finding the remaining £342,000.

A report by Michael Enston, the council's executive director for communities, says it became clear by late 2015 that the trust couldn't get the money which "necessitated a re-think in terms of design and budget".

A modular build, which would allow for future expansion, was then accepted by the Lochore Meadows Advisory Board in January 2016.

Last month, the trust decided "they were not best placed to continue managing the park".

The park will now revert to the control of Fife Council on April 1.

Meanwhile, the council, Fife Golf Trust, Lochore Meadows Golf Club and two local football teams developed plans for the new clubhouse and changing pavilion, with funding of £450,000 from the council and £83,000 from Sportscotland.

In April 2016, the revised budget was £1m for a new visitor centre and £669,000 for the clubhouse and pavilion.

He said the new visitor centre would offer an "attractive" indoor and outdoor cafe, two multi-purpose rooms, a "good-size entrance area", toilets and staff accommodation.

The clubhouse would have retail space for a golf professional, a large community room, vending area, toilets and two changing rooms.

Mr Enston said there were no objections or representations when the planning applications were tabled in the summer.

He said the plans were put on public display for four months and the council was ready to award the contract until a meeting of the Benarty Community Forum in November, where "concerns were expressed by some about the external appearance and size of the new visitor centre".

The award was put on hold and, the following month, the forum "called for the visitor centre element of the project to be stopped and for additional funding to be found".

He said there were risks in terms of cost, timelines and business continuity if they didn't go ahead as proposed and the £83,000 award from Sportscotland "is conditional on the building work having been substantially completed by February 28", although discussions are underway.

Mr Enston said: "Further work would be required in conjunction with the local community and the key stakeholders in the country park to consider the options and costs for a revised approach to the provision of a new visitor centre.

"Given the ambition of some for a bigger facility than is currently proposed and the additional costs of delivering the golf clubhouse/changing pavilion, the likely loss of the £83,000 Sportscotland grant, bringing the existing building back into use, the abortive design fees expended on the current proposal and building cost inflation, it is evident that further resources would need to be identified."

The protest is expected to tell councillors going to the meeting that there is still scope to delay the plans and get the perfect solution to the visitor centre question with community backing.