Councillors criticise £50m development

Michael Alexander, The Courier, 17 April 2003

Fife Council risks “making a nonsense” of its own authority if it does not strictly impose a planning condition which was agreed during the controversial approval of the £50 million St Andrews Bay Resort three years ago.

This view was expressed as councillors expressed their concern that there was minimal evidence of a green travel plan by the resort to encourage more sustainable transport use, in turn reducing congestion and pollution.

The matter was raised as Fife Council’s east area local services committee was presented with a report on efforts by the council’s transportation services to improve Fife’s environment.

Although Fife does not suffer from the severe traffic congestion or pollution which is common in large cities, Fife traffic is on the increase and contributes to congestion elsewhere, while transport remains the main contributor to greenhouse gas generation and consequently global climate change.

With this in mind, councillors said it was “difficult to disagree” that the environmental impact of travel in Fife needs to be addressed by encouraging more walking, cycling and public transport use instead of single occupancy of cars.

The councillors - most of whom were members of the east area development committee which originally rejected the Kingask development before the decision-making process was taken out of their hands by Fife Council’s administration-dominated strategic development committee - said the test was how to implement this.

But several said it did not bode well when a development the size of St Andrews Bay - which aims to attract thousands of additional guests and delegates to the area each year - apparently did not do all that had been asked of it to keep environmental damage to a minimum.

The first salvo of criticism was fired by Fife Liberal Democrat leader Elizabeth Riches (Anstruther and East Neuk Landward), who said there had been “little evidence” that a green travel plan was in place when a recent conference had been held at the facility. Such a plan, she said, should encourage staff to take the bus to work instead of private transport and, similarly, to encourage guests staying at the hotel to use a specially provided shuttle bus.

But Councillor Riches said there was little evidence of this being a success with the car park virtually full. With most cars arriving and departing via St Andrews, she said this increased volume of activity must have a detrimental impact on the environment.

She said unless a green travel plan was strictly imposed by the council, it was “making a nonsense” of all the fine words said during the planning process.

Councillor Riches added, “I cannot understand how the hotel has been allowed to run that long without very strict conditions. The committee spent a long time discussing these issues and this is making a nonsense.”

Cupar North member Susan Clark recalled that during a recent licencing board meeting in Cupar, a “wax lyrical lawyer” had told the board how St Andrews Bay was “so popular” it could not accommodate all its guests. If this was the case, she said it underlined the need for a green travel plan. However, she had always understood it to be the responsibility of the resort - not the council - to implement the plan. And she said the resort hadn’t exactly been very quick.”

Similar concern was expressed by St Andrews South East member Jane Ann Liston. She noted that when a conference was held there about a year ago, paperwork informed delegates how to get there from Edinburgh and Glasgow but there was no mention of public transport or a green travel plan.

She commented, “I think they’ve been playing fast and loose with us.”

Last night no one from St Andrews Bay was available for comment.

Fife Council area transportation manager Derek Crowe told councillors that the authority had been in discussion with St Andrews Bay about a green travel plan, and he said the council had received a “great deal of co-operation and enthusiasm” about it from them.

He said the hotel was encouraging people to share transport, although people travelling from Fife or close to Fife were tending to choose to come by car.