Councillor in call for Lamond Drive lorry restrictions

The Courier, 25 February 2000

Fears have been voiced that schoolchildren are facing increasing danger from the number of heavy construction vehicles running through a residential area of St Andrews to and from the £50 million golf-related development at Kingask.

Fife councilor Jane Ann Liston, whose St Andrews South-East ward includes almost all of Lamond Drive which is used on a daily basis by the huge lorries, has now called for restrictions to be put in place on the number of trips using the main thoroughfare.

She has raised her concerns over the increased traffic using the route with the chairman of Fife Council’s east area development committee, fellow Liberal Democrat member Frances Melville, in advance of a forthcoming liaison meeting which will involve discussions on all aspects of the controversy.

The local authority has voiced increasing worries at the clear breaches of the number of lorries permitted to enter and leave the Kingask site on the outskirts of St Andrews and is now threatening to take legal action against the developers, the St Andrews Bay Development Company.

Earlier this week Councillor Bill Brand promised action would be taken against the company unless agreement could be reached between the parties “as a matter of urgency."

There has been clear evidence that the developers have been blatantly ignoring the permitted level of vehicle movements - on one day an official count by the local authority discovered five times the agreed level.

Councillor Liston said yesterday, “I have very grave doubts as to the wisdom of running so many heavy lorries through a residential area. I am not of course arguing for more of them to use the small rural roads which are even less suited for such traffic.”

She added that more than a certain number of lorries in a fixed length of time will cause severe traffic congestion along Lamond Drive and at its many junctions.

Councillor Liston said, “There is also the danger of such vehicles to children. I would suggest, therefore, that there are strong arguments for restricting the times of lorry movements along Lamond Drive to avoid both the peak commuter times and the hours when children are most likely to be travelling to and from school.”

The Lamond Drive area comprises several housing estates and is a catchment area for pupils attending Langlands Primary School, Canongate Primary School and Greyfriars Primary School, along with the Kilrymont Road building of Madras College and scores of youngsters use the route each day.

Traffic calming measures on the long, straight stretch of road were introduced several years ago as the result of a major campaign following the death of a pupil of Madras College in a traffic accident.

The current row over the breaches by the company of the Section 75 agreement has prompted criticism from several quarters, including North East Fife MP Menzies Campbell and councillors.

However, Fife Council’s law and administration department has made it clear the authority will go to court against the St Andrews Bay Development Company unless there is a satisfactory outcome to ongoing discussions.