Kingask construction site traffic to double

The Citizen, 28 January 2000

There was a further twist in the Kingask saga this week when Fife Council’s Strategic Development Committee voted to double the amount of construction traffic travelling daily to and from the site.

The surprise move came at Monday’s meeting in response to news that developers, St Andrews Bay Ltd. had already exceeded the number of journeys permitted within their planning consent.

The Section 75 traffic plan hammered out between Fife Council and the developers had agreed that the maximum number of journeys to be carried out during the construction phase would be limited to 10 per day.

However, this has been breached by St Andrews Bay Development Ltd, who now claim they will not be able to complete building work within the scheduled timescale unless the traffic quota is increased.

They also admitted that the construction lorries had not stuck to the designated routes, and had caused around £11,000 worth of damage to narrow country roads leading to the site. They stated they were willing to pay this sum.

In putting forward his proposal to increase the amount of traffic, and allowing it to use other routes to the Kingask site, Fife Council’s Law and Administration Manager, Hamish Tait, said: “If we restrict the developer to 10 lorries per day, the development at Kingask will not be completed within the scheduled programme and will last months and months, causing inconvenience to residents.”

He added that, although the council had the power to take the developers’ to court for breach of planning-regulations, he felt it would be more advantageous to “manage and monitor” the situation instead.

The news, unsurprisingly, led to harsh criticism of St Andrews Bay Ltd. from local members.

Crail, Cameron and Kemback Councillor, Peter Douglas, said: “They agreed to 10 vehicles, and now they are saying they can’t work with that amount.

“That tells us they are either incompetent or that they had no intention of keeping to the figure in the first place.”

Caskieberran and Rimbleton Councillor, Peter Grant, added a warning that conceding to the developer’s request on this issue would lead to further and further requests for changes.

He added: “There will be so many amendments put through that we could be working to an agreement which this committee would never - in a month of Sundays - have agreed to if it had been put before us originally.”

The decision to increase the average number of lorry journeys to 20 per day, with the possibility of further increases, and to allow them to use alternative roads, was carried by a majority of one vote.