Human rights law helps drinkers save Scots pub

Iain Lundy, The Sunday Times, 5 August 2001

European human rights law has been invoked by Scottish planners to stop a couple from converting one of the country's oldest village pubs into houses.

In a landmark decision, Fife council officials ruled that the Cambo Arms hotel, the only pub in Kingsbarns, near St Andrews, was vital to village life. Under European Union legislation, they have to balance the owners' rights with those of the community.

Al and Anne Fraser had applied for planning permission to split the 400-year-old coaching inn, which has been closed since last November, into two houses.

They said the business was not viable because few people used it and they had failed to sell it as a going concern.

Villagers, who had been campaigning to save their local with the support of the Campaign For Real Ale (Camra), won the backing of planners and councillors, who said the pub played a "pivotal" part in community life.

It is the first time in Scotland that a local authority has decided the "vitality and vibrancy" of a community should be considered.

"Because this pub made such a significant contribution to the local community we were not prepared to allow this change of use," said Alistair Hamilton, Fife council planner. "It has been a pub in the village for the past 400 years. The planning guidance now is that there is an emphasis on looking at factors that consolidate the viability and vitality of the community."

The decision comes after the Prince of Wales launched a campaign to "make the pub the hub" of village life and said landlords should be encouraged to double up their premises as shops, banks and post offices.

Village pubs have been closing at a rate of 20 a month during the foot and mouth outbreak.

Hamilton said Kingsbarns was a special case because it had only one pub, whereas many other villages had at least two.

"In the majority of cases, commercial viability is not something that planning should become involved in; it comes down to a free-market economy.

"But we have taken a more holistic approach, to look at the sustainability and vitality of the village," he said.

Hamilton added that councillors were not satisfied that the Frasers had made enough effort to sell the hotel.

The couple have been told that if they want to reapply, they must show they had pursued every avenue and say what the response had been.

"There are not many facilities in the village and this is on one of the main tourist routes in and out of St Andrews. That type of facility should be exploited to its full potential," said Hamilton.

A spokesman for Camra welcomed the decision and said he was delighted that the council had recognised the important part that pubs played in community life.

The Frasers said the decision to seek a change of use for the Cambo Arms was a business decision and they were as sorry as anyone to close the pub. The couple declined to comment further, saying the matter was with their solicitor.

Kingsbarns dates back to the 11th century and got its name from Malcolm III of Scotland (Malcolm Canmore) who collected dues, including grain, from St Andrews, which were stored in barns outside the town. The area then became known as Kingsbarns.