The Newport Property Development Company, operated by Dundee businessman John Gibson, has obtained permission to build the dwellings on land at East Farm, to the side of Main Street in Springfield, near Cupar.

The 30 homes – a combination of two, three and four-bed semi-detached homes and adapted bungalows – will be built for social let on a combination of vacant disused land and an area earmarked for housing, with Fife Council appointed as landlord post-completion.

Springfield Community Council objected on the grounds that the homes did not have more sustainable forms of heat generation than gas boilers, set to be outlawed from 2025 in new-build homes, The Courier reports.

However, Newport has said it will build the homes to a “fabric first” standard with heavy insulation to minimise the need to use heating at all, along with solar panels on the roof for a source of environmentally friendly electricity.

The concerns over continuing to build homes with fossil fuel-burning boilers were shared by SNP Cupar councillor Karen Marjoram, who fears any subsequent changes in the law may outlaw gas boilers altogether and could cost the council dear when it comes to replacing them.

She told the north east Fife planning committee: “What we don’t want to happen is that, if there’s a legislation change in the next 10 or so years or whatever, that it is difficult to retrofit things like an air source heat pump.”

Councillor Marjoram was supported by SNP Howe of Fife and Tay Coast member David MacDiarmid, who said her concerns were not being viewed “seriously”.

Voicing his support for the approval of the project, council solicitor Steven Paterson said policy could not be invented “on the hoof ” and there was no presumption against gas boilers in the current development plan.

The plans were otherwise agreed by the committee as submitted, with conditions attached to limit the use of the homes to social let and to ensure the development meets all council standards.