Hotel plans recommended for approval

Michael Alexander, The Courier, 25 June 1999

Plans for a multi-million pound hotel and golf complex at Kingask, on the outskirts of St Andrews, are being recommended for approval by Fife Council’s head of planning Mr David Rae.

However, the planning chief has indicated that, based on the information available to him, he cannot support the concurrent applications for multi-million pound complexes at Scooniehill and Feddinch.

His stance on the controversial planning applications emerged last night as Fife Council published details of its report on the proposals, following a lengthy consultation exercise.

The report will be considered by the local authority’s east area development committee when it meets in Cupar on Tuesday, with a final decision then expected to be taken by the council’s centrally-based strategic development committee on July 7.

Mr Rae says in his report he would only be able to support the Kingask application if very strict conditions and arguments were imposed.

The plans submitted by St Andrews Bay Development Limited are for a 240-bedroom hotel and ancillary facilities, conference accommodation, a gatehouse facility, 10 individual hotel accommodation buildings comprising 80 bedrooms, new access, internal road system and parking areas and landscaping.

But he said the lack of detail on the other two applications - currently at the outline planning stage - meant he could not recommend them in the same way.

The Feddinch development in particular has been the subject of some confusion since last Thursday, when it emerged during a special hearing that there had apparently been some kind of mix-up over specifications for the plans.

Mr Rae’s views on Kingask are in line with the original thoughts of Fife Council’s east area planning manager Jim Birrell, who recommended the original application for approval earlier this year. That view was not shared by the majority of east area development committee members who subsequently rejected the Kingask application - later having all three golf developments taken out of their hands by the local authority who decided to take a “strategic overview” of the situation.

Objectors have continued to be very critical of the way the entire golf developments planning process has been handled and have questioned the council’s reasons and motives.

But, last night, Fife Council urged people to have faith in the planning process. Chairman of the council’s strategic development committee, Councillor Bill Brand, said the local authority was fully aware of the importance of the proposed developments and the intense interest they had generated.

He added, “It’s for these reasons that we have made every effort to be as open as possible when dealing with these applications. The east area development committee will have the most comprehensive information possible to play a full part in the decision-making process.

“A difficult task lies ahead in weighing up the possible economic employment and tourism benefits of these proposals against possible detrimental effects on the environment. I would urge people to have faith in the planning process.”