A former naval base may become a renewable energy park which could attract £500m of investment, the Herald Scotland newspaper has reported.

It would see the former Rosyth base in Fife turned into an offshore turbine manufacturing and servicing, powered by a waste-fuelled renewable energy plant.

Scarborough Group, an English family-owned business, bought the base and has spent £8m on cleaning up the highly-contaminated site.

But two years ago its proposals for a mixed housing and leisure development, run jointly with Muir Group of Fife, were rejected by Fife Council.

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Now Scarborough Muir has drafted a new masterplan and said the energy park could support other projects including the new Forth Crossing.

William McAllister, site project manager for Scarborough since 2004, told The Herald: "We are being supported by Fife Council and Scottish Enterprise in getting Rosyth and our landholdings on the renewables industry radar. The Fife energy park at Methil and the Forth Ports land at Leith are being filled up, Rosyth is the next large area of land."

Potential tenants are already showing interest, Mr McAllister said.

He continued: "We have very accommodating neighbours in Rosyth but the message I always get is – when are we going to create something?

"They are sick of looking at an empty site and previous to that a dying port, they just want something."

The demolition of a nine-acre former naval fuel bunker, with WWII history, was begun in July 2005, and Scarborough Muir has remediated more than 60 acres of land at the site.

(NE)