The developers will build 55 new homes at Gilliesfaulds West and a proposed site layout for up to a further 113 houses that will transform the western approach to the town.

The plans for the western Cupar gateway and to the south of the A91 envisages 168 homes with a mix and range of housing types, new employment land, open spaces and recreational areas and footpaths and cycle routes.

They also include the construction of a new roundabout on the A91, with a public art centrepiece. A spur is also to be provided from the roundabout to provide future access to the rest of the Cupar North SDA.

The plans were approved despite 11 objections including from Cupar North Consortium, which said the approval of the plans could undermine its own plans to build 1,400 houses near the site in question, The Courier reports.

Councillors at yesterday’s North East Fife planning committee meeting discussed the development for over two hours, voicing several concerns including road capacity, the impact on schools, and developer contributions towards future medical provision.

Councillor Tony Miklinski said that Cupar had “waited long enough”, but pushed council planners over the impact which the development would have on Castlehill Primary and Bell Baxter High schools.

William Shand, a planning officer at Fife Council, said education chiefs has concluded that there would be no impact on school roll numbers given the size and time scale of development.