Cambo Arms housing plan rejected

The Citizen, 8 June 2001

Villagers in Kingsbarns won the fight to retain their pub this week after a proposal to convert The Cambo Arms Hotel into houses was turned down.

Owners of the 17th-century coaching inn which, together with the former stables, comprises a four-bedroom hotel and pub, had sought permission to convert the listed building into two separate residential dwellings.

However, Fife Council’s East Area Development Committee on Tuesday agreed that the loss of the pub would have a detrimental effect on the social and economic life of the village.

In a report to the committee, Principal Planner Austin Cooke said that, under national planning policy guidelines, the local authority had an obligation to support facilites which provided a valuable service to the local community.

He added: ‘‘It is understood that, under the current owners, a small profit was made in operating the premises, but that this was insufficient to justify the effort made into running the business.

‘‘I also understand that the owners were not members of the local tourist board and did not actively market the property through the board.

‘‘While the current owners may consider that the operation of the public house is not viable, that is not to say that other owners - managing the premises in a different manner and more actively promoting the existence of the public house - would take the same view.’’

His report concluded that the applicants had failed to prove The Cambo Arms did not have a viable economic future and stated that the loss of a public house/hotel to Kingsbarns would adversely impact upon the vibrancy and health of the local community.

Owners, Anne and Al Fraser, closed the doors of The Cambo Arms last November. Mrs Fraser said that, although she regretted the loss to the village, she felt that Kingsbarns Golf Club would go some way to catering for local patrons.

The council’s decision to refuse planning permission was welcomed by the Chairwoman of Kingsbarns Community Council, Kate Holy, who said: ‘‘We are all obviously delighted with the result and hope that there will be an open pub in the village of Kingsbarns again very soon.

‘‘The number of people who wrote to Fife Council to oppose the change of use was very high for such a small village, and only the loss of such an important amenity would generate this kind of response. We are delighted with Fife Council’s decision.’’

The news that the B-listed building could be converted into houses led to widespread protest from villagers and galvanised the local community into making their feelings known.

A 200-signature petition, 48 individual letters of objection and 65 duplicate copies of a standard letter were received by the council’s planning service, although five of these were discovered to be from individuals who claimed they had no knowledge of them.