St Andrews is safe in our hands

Douglas Sinclair, Letters, New Statesman, 6 March 2000

I would like to respond to the emotive and inaccurate article written by Alan Taylor ("A religion that's out of control", 21 February). Fife Council has absolutely no intention of turning St Andrews into a "theme park" or permitting "exploitation by developers". There are robust and defensible planning policies and guidelines in place that require detailed assessments of any future golf course developments and these have to be set against national and local planning policies. The council's planning guidelines prevent golf courses from being adjacent to each other and require substantial agricultural and woodland corridors to be retained.

I also take grave exception to the comments relating to "'brown envelopes' changing hands" and "favours being given for oiling the wheels of the planning process". These points are simply untrue. If your magazine or indeed the author has access to such information, it should be reported to the police immediately.

Douglas Sinclair
Chief executive, Fife Council
Glenrothes, Fife