Developer withdraws golf plan

Gordon Berry, The Courier, 28 June 1999

The debate over proposed golf and leisure developments in and around St Andrews took a dramatic new turn at the weekend.

One of the contenders, Dundee-based business man Michael Johnston, blamed “confusion” in Fife Council and the actions of objectors as he temporarily pulled the plug on his £200 million project at Feddinch.

A representative of one of the other applicants, the St Andrews International Golf Club, expressed “bewilderment” over statements made by the council’s head of planning, David Rae, about the £18 million project at Scooniehill. The representative indicated that clarification would be sought early this week.

The new moves came after it was revealed that Mr Rae was likely to recommend refusal of the Feddinch and Scooniehill applications, but was giving his conditional support to the application from St Andrews Bay Development Ltd for a £50 million scheme at Kingask.

The Feddinch proposal, the biggest of the three, was put forward by the developer of the new Carnoustie hotel, Michael Johnston. He had proposed a hotel, holiday units, a golf course and other facilities on a 420 acre site to the south of the town.

The application was discussed, along with the two others, at a special hearing in St Andrews over a week ago.

However, the debate ended in controversy when Mr Johnston claimed new plans submitted by him to officials were not tabled.

At the weekend Mr Johnston said Mr Rae would not have the chance to recommend refusal of the application, because it had been withdrawn.

He said what had happened with Fife Council had left everyone in confusion and “completely lost”.

Mr Johnston also claimed that there were many incomers to St Andrews, especially from the academic world, among objectors to the plans.

“They make all sorts of statements, and if they had their way St Andrews would be Cambridge,” he said.

Mr Johnston added that a minor misunderstanding of his proposals for Feddinch had been blown out of all proportion by objectors.

He also said that allegations he had been in cahoots with officials were not only scurrilous, but damaging.

“I am angry that objectors should use our disagreements with the planning department to cast doubt on the whole process,” he said.

Mr Johnston said he was not prepared to be used by vocal individuals with an axe to grind and now felt it best to withdraw and re-submit at a later date.

He said he wanted to allow adequate time for more meetings between the parties and said the only effective way to progress was through meaningful dialogue addressing planning and environmental issues.

“It is also my intention to have meetings with local residents to enable my team to present our proposals clearly and receive their representations first-hand. We will then bring a revised scheme back to the council.”

At the weekend the secretary of St Andrews International Golf Club Ltd, Alastair Doig, said it was now obvious that Mr Rae had reservations and his firm was finding the situation “very difficult to understand”.

“We are now taking steps to find out just what his problem is. It has been suggested that our project could not be approved because of lack of detail and we are trying to find out what this lack of detail consists of,” said Mr Doig.

“We’ve bent over backwards to provide his staff with the information they have asked for.

“This whole thing is getting a bit silly. We wonder if there is something that is not being said and they are trying to be all things to all men - saying some things to us and other things elsewhere."

Mr Doig said his firm was trying to fill what it saw as a hole in the market - a demand for a top class facility that is not a hotel but a private club.

“That is what we are seeking to provide but it is becoming extremely difficult to achieve it," he said.

Mr Doig said that if the planning authority did not want a golf project at Scooniehill in any shape or form it should be honest enough to say so. But he said that was not the impression that had formed during talks with officials.