A £15m leisure and swimming complex has been given the green light in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland.

Fife Council and Fife Sport & Leisure Trust are behind the scheme and the former approved the plans for the centre, which is to be built on the site of the Tolbooth Street Car Park.

The new leisure centre will include a 25m main swimming pool, a smaller teaching pool with moveable floor, a health suite, a full-size sports hall, a play centre, a 60-station fitness suite, a large aerobics studio, a meeting room and a café.

However, a row has erupted due to the location of the scheme, with locals fearing that a lack of parking will adversely affect the high street shops.

The council has defended the plans though, saying that the town has adequate parking.

Local authority leader Peter Grant was quote on STV as saying: “I am absolutely confident that when the people of Kirkcaldy really understand what it is that’s being offered to them, they’ll see that it's a massive improvement on the facilities they have just now.

“Particularly when they understand that this is the site the pool will be built on. Because if we go back to square one in today’s economic climate, there is a significant danger that the pool will never be built.

“Kirkcaldy’s been denied an adequate swimming pool for 20 or 30 years, and I don’t want to see that denial continuing for another 20 years. I want to see this pool being built soon and I think the vast majority of people in Kirkcaldy feel the same.”