Council decides access road must close

The Courier, 9 October 1999

Fife Council has made it clear that an unauthorised access road serving the new £50 million Kingask golf and leisure development near St Andrews should be closed off in the meantime.

Only days before the first turf is to be officially cut during a high-profile launch at the 520-acre clifftop site to the east of the town, moves have been made to have St Andrews Bay Development Ltd seek formal planning permission for work which has led to road safety fears.

Although no formal steps have yet been taken to force closure of the road, enforcement action or serving of a stop notice could be part of a formal legal process. It was revealed earlier this week that the road had been constructed outwith the terms of the highly detailed planning conditions governing development of the controversial project.

It has been claimed that safety is being compromised and that the local authority could find itself liable if an accident occurred at the access with the main coast road.

Strict conditions had been imposed on how traffic should enter and leave the site, on exactly where access should be and on the number of construction vehicle movements that would be allowed on a daily basis. Local people, including a former chairman of Kingsbarns Community Council, expressed anger over completion and use of a new access road. It was claimed that the developers were "riding roughshod" over planning rules.

The councillor for the area, Peter Douglas, also voiced concern, asking whether such action would set a pattern for how the development would proceed and also pointed out that he had not been kept informed about the additional road that had appeared without planning consent.

At the beginning of this week Fife Council appeared to give support to the principle behind the formation of the road.

Although it was made clear that the work was outwith the terms of existing planning consent, and that the developers would have to apply for a variation of a condition, the council said that the arrangement involved a one-way system that could lead to an improvement in road safety.

Yesterday Councillor Douglas said he understood that council east area planning manager Mr Jim Birrell had now visited the site and that instructions were to be given that the road should be closed pending a formal planning application from St Andrews Bay Development Ltd.

Mr Douglas said that it was his understanding that the council could be liable if an accident occurred, and it was important that planning conditions were adhered to.

Mr Birrell said yesterday that he had now written to agents for the developers to point out that the access was unauthorised and that a formal planning application should be submitted for a variation of a planning condition.

This, he said, should be done as soon as possible so that a decision could formally be made by the council following consultation with roads, transportation and the police.

"In the meantime I feel it is in eveyone's best interests if the access point is closed off pending determination of the planning application," said Mr Birrell.

Yesterday the local resident who first raised the issue, design engineer Nick Lunan, of Torrie House, Kingsbarns, said he was glad that Fife Council was finally moving to take action over what was an unsafe, unauthorised and sub-standard access road.

It was hoped, he said, that the developer would waste no time in complying with the council request.