Under the plans submitted by agents Iceni Projects, an existing 1960s property at the Fairways in The Links, near the historic Swilcan Bridge, will be demolished to allow for the construction of the three-bedroom homes.

Athole Reid and Gillian Aspin, owners of the existing property, said the existing building is “of low architectural merit”.

A design statement submitted with the application added: “It is therefore considered that a good opportunity exists for the sensitive redevelopment of this site, which can play a part in further enhancing the character of the conservation area while relating sensitively to nearby listed buildings, as well as providing new family homes within the town of St Andrews on a previously developed urban site.”

The first proposal for the homes was scrapped after being rejected by both Fife Council and the Scottish Government in 2021. The second set of plans reduces the height of the development from four storeys to three.

In a written ruling, council planning officials said: “The submissions … recognise the importance of the Old Course and the site being at the edge of the historic town core. The … suitably proportioned and detailed frontage [is] more akin to the existing townhouses, tenements and hotels across the links rather than the current house.

“It is considered that the proposed development would complement both the setting of the designed landscape, and the Swilcan Bridge or 18th hole, while being read more closely against the urban environment.”