IT was supposed to be "one of the most exciting public art projects Scotland has ever seen" but the Fife Earth Project, near Kelty, was never completed after the collapse of the coal industry.

However, there are hopes it could still become a 'major new tourist destination', after the landowners put the entire St Ninians site, a sprawling 930 acres next to the M90 motorway, up for sale.

Hargreaves picked up the pieces after Scottish Coal’s demise and restored the former opencast coal mine, although the hugely ambitious designs outlined by world renowned American architect, Charles Jencks, were never fully realised.

Including forest and agricultural land, the site has been designated by Fife Council for leisure, tourism and recreation uses and Philip Rayson, of Hargreaves Land, said: “This really is an incredible opportunity to develop a unique and stunning landscape and create a vibrant future for this site.

“The site includes two water bodies suitable for a range of leisure uses, and Loch Fitty has previously been operated as an international standard trout fishery.”

Mr Jencks’ multi-million pound restoration plans for a 665-acre park at the former mine were announced in 2009 and included four different-shaped landscape mounds, to represent the continents influenced by Scots throughout history.

It included a loch in the shape of Scotland and would have brought visitors and money into Kelty. Although work started, it was left unfinished when Scottish Coal went bust in 2013.

Speaking to the Times the following year, Mr Jencks said: "One can only hope the whole project will be revived. Never say never."

The architect, who was also well known for co-founding the Maggie's cancer care charity with late wife Maggie Keswick, passed away in October last year at the age of 80.

Ryden and Davidson & Robertson have been appointed as joint agents to begin marketing the site and will be implementing a series of events to showcase the opportunity.

Niall Milner, of Davidson and Robertson, commented: “It truly is a rare opportunity for such a sizeable and well connected leisure site to become available with a clear steer from the local authority on what development will be favourably considered.”

Neil McAllister of Ryden added: “The ease of accessibility to the majority of Central Scotland's population will hopefully allow the purchaser to take advantage of the site's development potential for leisure and tourism related uses.”

The land art at Kelty was one of four huge projects backed by then Prime Minister Gordon Brown in October 2009 to transform the junction 4 area at Kelty next to the M90 motorway.

The ambitious plans also included a ‘Go Ape’ adventure area, 50-bedroom hotel and conference centre, holiday chalets, a micro-brewery, tourist information centre, children’s play centre, swimming pool and a new business estate but the £50 million-plus investment never materialised.

Since then, proposals for 900 homes plus a primary school have been approved for land between the M90 and Cocklaw Street but as we reported recently they are in doubt because of an issue between the developer and Fife Council.

And art could still be part of the site’s future with award-winning Dunfermline artist Ian Moir, curator at Fire Station Creative, outlining designs in 2018 for a 200-feet high 'Citizen Spire' monument to be erected there.