NEARLY 60 new homes will be built in a Central Fife town after council planners gave a new development the tentative go-ahead.

Council officers have issued approval for the 58 new homes within Lochgelly's Avenues development in a draft paper published on March 29.

Local developer Easy Living Homes will construct the dwellings as part of its new neighbourhood to the north of the Avenue in the Fife town.

The Glenrothes-based firm was previously given permission to build 71 houses on the western edge of the site, and the first residents have already moved in.

It brands the site as a “vision of luxury living in a striking panoramic setting”.

In all, 129 homes are being constructed on the site, in excess of the 90 that the site is earmarked for in Fife’s local development plan.

Planners have justified the exceedance by stating that the 90-home limit was only “indicative”.

They also say the wider benefits associated with building homes outweighed any concerns of overdevelopment.

A full handling report justifying the decisions against the council’s full range of planning policies is yet to be published.

However, officers have confirmed that Easy Living will need to pay Fife Council a further £261,000 in developer contributions as part of a legal obligation known as  a Section 75 agreement.

The money will be used to bolster local education, transport, open space and affordable housing demands that will be exacerbated as a result of the additional dwellings.

It takes the total payments the firm will make to the council to over £330,000, at an average of £2579 per home.