Published: Thursday, 17th December, 2009 3:32pm

Meedies Neuk solution sought

by Peter Swindon

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The owner of a derelict pub in Lochore has pledged to pull the building down if Fife Council refund cash he paid to the local authority when a planning application was submitted in October 2007.

Councillors gave Lochgelly-based housing developer Ian Sneddon the green light to demolish the Meedies Neuk and build a block of fourteen flats on the condition that he paid a commuted sum of £20,000 towards "environmental improvements" to the area.

Construction was delayed by a dispute with Lochore Welfare Junior Football Club over a road which Mr Sneddon offered to upgrade in exchange for right of access.

They failed to reach an agreement and a second application - which would have seen a new access road built from Main Street to the new properties - was later approved by Fife Council.

But by that time the housing bubble had burst and Mr Sneddon has been unable to secure backing from the banks for the project.

More than 1000 people have since put their name to a petition calling for the Meedies Neuk to be bulldozed.

"This is a cashflow issue," Mr Sneddon told the Times. "The banks won't give any developers money to build homes.

"That building isn't sitting there to be spiteful to the people of Lochore. It's a market situation.

"If I got the £20,000 back from Fife Council I'd be happy to use it to bring the building down but it's complicated - the council has it's own cashflow problems and the money has probably been spent."

Lochs councillor Alex Rowley has this week called on the council to release the cash.

He said, "We can arrange for the money to be repaid by Mr Sneddon when construction work begins but the crucial thing is to get that building down. This has dragged on for far too long."

However council planner Angus Dodds was adamant that "it's not going to happen".

"As far as we're concerned that contribution was for environmental improvements and Mr Sneddon won't get his money back," he added.

Councillor Rowley has now written to the local authority's planning chief Keith Winter demanding a resolution.

"It's not acceptable that this eyesore will still stand in 2010," he told the Times.