A QUARRY firm's plans for the former Kincardine Power Station site, which would see material transported by train instead of lorries, have been re-submitted.

An application for an aggregate storage building and associated infrastructure to enable stone to be transported via rail has been tabled with Fife Council.

Proposals by Tillicoultry Quarries to bring a part of the former coal-fired plant site, which was demolished in 2001, back into use were initially submitted more than a year ago, as reported then.

The previous application would take more HGVs off the road but it was withdrawn following a discussion with SEPA and the planning authority with more work needed on a possible flood risk.

That's been done and a planning statement said: “The assessment shows that the proposed development would have negligible impact on the flood risk area and that no compensatory storage is required.

“The application is therefore re-submitted for determination.”

The development, if approved, will go ahead on the northern edge of the site, adjacent to existing and currently unused rail sidings which connect to the wider network.

The sidings would be used for loading aggregate onto trains for distribution after being transported there from other locations operated by Tillicoultry Quarries in central Scotland.

Around one to two trains would be loaded per week, it is anticipated, equating to somewhere between 94,000 to 180,000 tonnes per year.

Some of the aggregate would be stored for “shorter periods of time”, hence the proposals for storage and for a staff welfare unit, car parking and loading areas.

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Loading and any minor maintenance works would be undertaken during day and night-time hours.

The planning statement added: “The proposed development will ultimately remove a significant volume of longer distance HGV traffic from the road network.”

Tillicoultry Quarries supplies aggregates, concrete, mortar, render, gravel, asphalt and sands, having been in business since 1931.

The site is brownfield land and has largely been vacant since the power station was demolished, although it has been used by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service for training purposes.

Back in 2018, Dunfermline MSP Shirley-Anne Somerville was told that the site would be put up for sale.

She welcomed the move and said at the time: “After lying vacant for so long, it’s about time that it was put to use."

The planning statement added: “Bringing this part of the site back in to working use, including the rail sidings will benefit the area and local economy, while also cutting vehicle emissions currently associated with the transportation of aggregate.”