Kingask access is accident waiting to happen - claim

Gordon Berry, The Courier, 5 October 1999

Claims were made yesterday that road safety problems are being caused at the site of the new £50 million Kingask development near St Andrews due to the use of a new and so far unauthorised access road.

Nick Lunan, who lives at nearby Torrie House, in Kingsbarns, said that use of the access by heavy construction traffic represented "an accident waiting to happen."

This view was backed last night by Kingsbarns community councillor Clare Wright, who said that developers should not be allowed to ride roughshod over the terms of a planning consent.

She claimed that many people had lost faith in planning officials.

The local councillor for the area, planning committee chairman Peter Douglas, said he was surprised he had not been kept informed about the additional road that had appeared without planning consent.

Fife Council yesterday said it was "aware of the developing situation" and officials felt there could be improvements in road safety with the new arrangement.

It is also acknowledged, however, that the work has been done outwith the scope of the existing planning consent, and that St Andrews Bay Development Ltd has been told to seek a variation on one of the planning conditions relating to construction traffic.

Mr Lunan, a design engineer, said there was evidence that the access was being used by vehicles carrying building materials. However, said Mr Lunan, the road did not have the benefit of planning permission.

He said that visibility splays required by law for rural roads were not, and could not, be provided.

Any build-up of cars behind articulated lorries waiting to turn off the main coast road could, he said, result in a disaster.

Mr Lunan said he had been in contact with legal and planning officials and was given conflicting accounts of the road's status.

It had been suggested to him that the road was to be one-way into the site, but, he said, heavy lorries had been seen on the point of exiting the road.

"This road must be closed, and closed now," he said. "Planning officials in north-east Fife are more than aware of the situation, but seem reluctant to enforce immediate closure.

"In the meantime road safety is being compromised, and Fife Council might find itself liable in the event of an accident."

Mr Lunan claimed the road had been built in clear contravention of planning conditions and the highly detailed section 75 agreement signed by developers and the council.

It was stated, he said, that there should be only one access, and that all construction traffic should use it.

In addition, he said, all existing access points to the site should be sealed.

What had happened, claimed Mr Lunan, was that two accesses had been formed, one of which did not have permission.

Mrs. Wright, a former chairman of the community council, said that the situation was "absolutely wrong."

"People cannot get away with painting their windows a different colour but the developers are riding roughshod over the planning rules," she said.

"If this is allowed what is going to happen next? Many local people have lost faith in the planning department of Fife Council, which should be pro-active and enforcing planning conditions without local people having to raise the issue."

Mrs Wright said she shared the view that the new access was dangerous.

Yesterday East Area planning manager Jim Birrell said the council was aware of the situation.

The developer had been advised that a variation must be sought on the planning condition relating to construction vehicles, he said.

Mr Birrell added, however, that the reason behind the new supplementary access was to create a one-way system for all construction vehicles.

They would now enter through a strengthened farm access and would exit using a road which would have vehicle washing facilities.

"Representatives from roads, transportation and planning have already discussed this matter on-site with the contract manager, and in general terms believe it is, in principle, an improvement in road safety," he said.