The exclusive report, published in the Scottish Sunday Herald, reveals how the Lomond Group has been secretly trying to dupe Fife Council into allowing the demolition of a historic 300-year-old wall that runs through the protected village of Falkland.

The developer has been negotiating for it to be pulled down in order to clear the way for the redevelopment of neighbouring farmland, where a site is earmarked for the build of a private housing estate, thought to make a multi-million pound profit if completed.

Lomond has defended its plans, saying the wall is unstable and therefore unsafe. However, local residents are said to be horrified and have deemed the developer’s actions as ‘despicable’ deploring them as ‘bullying’.

Lomond have already knocked down a 20-metre stretch of the wall.

According to the Scottish paper, an email from Lomond’s solicitor Derek Brady to Phillip Ritchie, Lomond’s chief executive, reveals how the group tried to cajole the council into pulling the wall down. The email reads: “There is little doubt Lomond are in a good controlling position with regard to making certain conditions if the wall is to be quickly rebuilt.”

Then, in a reference to Matt Mulderrig, Lomond’s land manager, it reads: “Once again, Matt’s evil scheming has maybe triumphed!”

The developer wanted the wall moved in order to provide greater access to the housing development. In order to convince the council they produced an engineer’s report arguing the wall was unsafe.

The SNP councillor, David MacDiarmid spoke to the Sunday Herald and said:“This just shows the contempt these people have for small communities.”

So far the Fife Council has ordered two statutory notices on the Lomond, one ordering for the re-building of the part of the wall already demolished and another ordering for the adjoining buildings to be preserved.

The Lomond Group declined to comment.