Your Place Your Plan - the second stage in the consultation process for the forthcoming St Andrews and East Fife Local Plan. Five East Fife Locality Meetings were held in Spring 2004. Discussion groups explored issues such as housing, schools, facilities, town centres, countryside matters, green belts and conservation.

Fife Council has recently published a document outlining a 'selection of views' expressed by the discussion groups during the recent Your Place Your Plan meetings

Published 'Selection of views' from 'Cameron and Kingsbarns' :

• Keep villages lively and healthy;
• Any development to be appropriate to size of village;
• St. Andrews residents alone should not dictate the Green Belt;
• Kingsbarns could perhaps allow growth of 14 - 20 houses of mixed type, size and cost, including sheltered housing, possibly near the school or at Croft Butts;
• Kingsbarns needs playing facilities for and near the school;
• Consider energy efficient housing for rural areas, eg straw bales;
• Affordable housing for Cameron, possibly adjacent to Norman View Kennels;
• Cameron needs focal point/village centre;
• facilities for children; and support to local business and employment.

Kingsbarns group notes - the official 'note of meeting' from which the above 'selection' is extracted

Below is the published 'selection of views' from St Andrews and the East Neuk.

Your Place Your Plan - Feedback from East Fife Locality Meetings Spring 2004

Development Services, Fife Council, August 2004

Many thanks to all of you who came along to Your Place - Your Plan at St Andrews in May. The discussion groups have provided a wealth of opinions, suggestions and ideas. These have been passed to Fife Council Services and partner agencies, and will be used to inform the draft Local Plan for East Fife. It is intended to have the draft East Fife Local Plan available for consultation and comment early in 2005. It will then go through a number of stages and is timetabled to be adopted in 2007. For more information visit www.fifedirect.org.uk, email east.localplan@fife.gov.uk or contact Karen Black on 01334 412801.

Councillor Donald Lothian

Listening to communities

Across all 5 events in East Fife, participants came up with some shared views about how the Local Plan should be developed and implemented:

• Consult with communities as to the size, type, design, location, number of units in any development;
• Clearly identify village envelopes or boundaries;
• Clearly communicate all the criteria and processes for design and development;
• Ensure planning regulations are applied consistently;
• Don’t be developer-led;
• Make use of “planning gain” to secure affordable housing;
• Listen to communities.

What’s so special about East Fife?

Special to residents across East Fife are:

open fields, farmland and countryside; village halls; parks, playing fields and football pitches; townscapes and views; wynds and closes; historic buildings; woods, orchards and trees; harbours and waterfronts; village shops and post offices; schools; footpaths, cyclepaths and bridleways; and above all, the uniqueness and character of our communities.

Common ground

There were also a number of common issues which participants want to see underpinning the draft Local Plan, namely:

• Build on brownfield sites;
• Develop old farm buildings;
• Ensure any development is proportionate to the size and character of the town or village;
• Keep communities unique and separate and maintain community identity;
• Identify flexible village envelopes;
• Sustain rural businesses and local employment;
• Be more flexible about change of use;
• Ensure housing is appropriate in style, size, design and type;
• Establish better design standards;
• Infrastructural improvements to roads, traffic management, sewerage, water must accompany any development;
• Explore all affordable options with communities, including self-build, housing associations and co-housing;
• Identify council-owned land to enable affordable housing to be built;
• Link affordable housing to employment and transport;
• Ensure affordable housing remains affordable;
• Ensure balanced, mixed communities;
• Provide facilities for young people;
• Make better public transport links;
• More paths, cycletracks and connections.

Views from St Andrews Locality and Drumoig

Below is a selection of views from the towns and villages - you can read discussion group notes from all the Your Place - Your Plan meetings at www.fifedirect.org.uk/newsevents

St. Michaels

• Don’t extend village envelopes;
• Don’t develop the fields behind existing housing as access would be difficult and there would be loss of amenity;
• Improve junction, perhaps with roundabout and restrict speed to reduce accidents.

St. Andrews

• Planning must include displacement sites for small businesses;
• Affordable housing that remains affordable;
• Infill - eg St. Mary’s Place;
• St. Leonard’s Fields - rather than expansion;
• Support for green belt;
• Use contour green belts to protect skyline and develop in low-lying areas;
• Not all community is anti-development;
• University should provide more accommodation for students;
• New community centre at Pipeland Road/Abbey Walk?
• Neighbourhood facilities in south west wedge;
• Need for design guide;
• Restore harbour area as focal point;
• Manage tourism better;
• Do/Don’t pedestrianise town centre;
• Better public transport infrastructure - buses, park and ride, rail link;
• New community use school and new secondary school for North Fife;
• GP surgeries and Day Centres at new hospital;
• Relief road/by-pass.

Strathkinness

• Some affordable housing on western side of village of appropriate style and character;
• No development to north of village;
• Keep open field at centre of village;
• Need paths around the school;
• Roundabout for lower crossroads and zebra crossing at main road?

Drumoig

• Maintain the quality and exclusivity of the estate;
• Some people want absolutely no further development; others want to limit severely any future development;
• Add play park facilities for young children;
• Better public transport and path links;
• Provide a focal point for the community;
• Develop community use of facilities.

Balmullo

• Extend village hall to provide other community/youth amenities;
• Any further, small-scale development should be on the east side of Balmullo and should take account of impact on the school etc;
• Development of the quarry would be welcomed but heavy vehicles should be re-routed away from housing;
• Increased through traffic a problem;
• Sheltered and affordable housing, small business and retail units required as part of mixed development.

Cameron and Kingsbarns

• Keep villages lively and healthy;
• Any development to be appropriate to size of village;
• St. Andrews residents alone should not dictate the Green Belt;
• Kingsbarns could perhaps allow growth of 14 - 20 houses of mixed type, size and cost, including sheltered housing, possibly near the school or at Croft Butts;
• Kingsbarns needs playing facilities for and near the school;
• Consider energy efficient housing for rural areas, eg straw bales;
• Affordable housing for Cameron, possibly adjacent to Norman View Kennels;
• Cameron needs focal point/village centre;
• facilities for children; and support to local business and employment.

Views from the East Neuk and locality

Below is a selection of views from the towns and villages - you can read discussion group notes from all the Your Place - Your Plan meetings at www.fifedirect.org.uk/newsevents

Anstruther

• Affordable housing that stays affordable - not necessarily in Anstruther;
• Develop the Murray Library as a showpiece;
• Develop the local economy and employment opportunities;
• Replace water infrastructure;
• Establish heritage centre and heritage trail;
• Provide facilities for young people at West Anstruther Primary School.

Cellardyke

l Improve public transport, eg to rail link at Leuchars; l Tackle traffic congestion affecting James Street, George St, John St, East & West Forth St; l Feasibility study of one-way system; l New access road from Kilrenny Junction to Cellardyke.

Pittenweem and Crail

• Engage with landowners to develop affordable housing;
• Housing north of school at Pittenweem: behind Kirkmay Road, Crail;
• Progress development of Crail Airfield with Historic Scotland;
• Relief road to Crail Airfield;
• Replace Pavilion at Beachwalk Park along with new public toilet;
• Create area for lorry drivers at Waterless Bridge, Sawmill Corner to allow lorries to deliver quickly;
• Transport links to Leuchars/Markinch/ Kirkcaldy.

St. Monans, Colinsburgh, Carnbee & Arncroach

• Affordable housing - St. Monans and Elie Estate?
• Refurbish redundant farm buildings for offices, industrial use or housing;
• Effects of Crail Raceway on other communities;
• Harbour development for St. Monans;
• Off-road cycle paths needed;
• More recycling outlets;
• No Tetra masts and windfarms;
• Huge issue of second homes;
• Redraw village boundaries further out to enable communities to survive - expansion would support schools, shops, communities;
• Develop community facilities for young people.

Lundin Links, Upper & Lower Largo and Drumeldrie

• More footpaths between Drumeldrie and Upper Largo, Gilston Bridge and Largoward;
• No development other than on brownfield sites;
• No change to Lundin Links, Upper and Lower Largo village envelopes;
• How about a new rural settlement with a new road?
• Better traffic management in the East Neuk;
• No housing from Silverburn to Lundin Links or between Lower and Upper Largo;
• Cyclepaths.

East Neuk Youth Forum

• More special needs housing for older people;
• Mixed housing - for rent and sale;
• Covert bus depot into community facility;
• Refurbish public toilets;
• Better quality accommodation for tourists;
• Build factory units and training facilities;
• Skatepark and youth facility for young people in Anstruther;
• No more large houses needed;
• No Tetra masts next to schools.