MORE than 100 jobs will be created at a new retail park in the Fife town of Cupar which is being built to help ensure that more money made in the town stays in the town.

Development group London & Scottish Investments (LSI) has been granted planning permission from Fife Council for the £10 million retail park, which will be created on the derelict site of the former Reekie Group Garage in Cupar.

LSI said the park would help stem the flow of up to 70 per cent of local spending on big ticket items, which the town currently loses to retail centres in Kirkcaldy and Dundee.

The site is one of 14 LSI acquired from Tesco in 2015, which the retail giant had previously earmarked for store development.

The group has already unveiled plans for a £40m development at East Kilbride, and work has started on a 45,000 sq ft retail park in Aviemore. Other sites are at various stages of the planning process and two sites, Love Street in Paisley and St Rollox in Glasgow have been sold on, with a similar deal in the pipeline for Dundee.

Council planner William Shand said that the Cupar development is within a short walk of Cupar town centre and close enough to boost business for established retailers through dual trading.

LSI has been granted planning permission for an avenue of three large units and three smaller units, for food and non-food retail use, including a takeaway.

The company said it had secured a “big-name” high street retailer for the site and was in negotiations with others, including a coffee chain.