Protesters swing into action over 'theme park' plan for St Andrews

Jeremy Watson, Scotland on Sunday, 21 December 2003

It has brought jobs, prosperity and global recognition to a small corner of the Kingdom of Fife. St Andrews is now known worldwide as the traditional home of golf, but plans to transform 220 acres of prime farmland on the cliffs above the famous town into a new golfing paradise are shattering the calm of the sport’s historic playground.

The St Andrews Links Trust, which runs the legendary Old Course, wants to build a new £5m course to the south of the town to take pressure off the hallowed links. But it will be the 11th in the immediate area and the seventh to be built in the last 10 years. Another is planned on a site about three miles inland.

Some residents fear the medieval university town is being turned into a golf-related theme park that is threatening to swamp its character. And private course owners are questioning the need for another public course which could affect their business.

Planners, who will consider whether to grant planning permission next month, have received at least 12 objections protesting about the loss of green belt land.

Three members of the Green Belt Forum, the body set up to protect the fringes of the town from development, resigned after the Forum decided not to object.

Peter Lindsay, secretary of the St Andrews Community Council, said: "There are those in the town who feel another golf course would automatically be a good thing but then there are others who feel there is too much golfing development. There have been an awful lot of courses built here in recent years so it is unsurprising there are objections."

Golf on the hallowed links of St Andrews dates back to the 15th century and it is now the largest public golf course complex in the world with more than 200,000 rounds of golf played every year. The town’s importance to the sport is also underlined by the august presence of the headquarters of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club, the game’s governing body.

The Old Course itself, which originated around 1400, is just one of seven public courses run by the Links Trust on behalf of the town.

The Links Trust has now applied for permission to construct a new 18-hole championship-class course on farmland at Kinkell Braes, about one mile south-east of the town. It will be designed by noted golf architect David Maclay Kidd and is expected to be ready for play in 2007.

Among the objectors is Terence Lee, a semi-retired professor of psychology at St Andrews University. Until earlier this month he was chairman of the Green Belt Forum’s planning committee, which had produced a report recommending opposition to the project on planning grounds.

When the Forum voted by the chairman’s casting vote not to object, Lee and two fellow objectors felt compelled to resign.

"There are very good grounds for objecting to this project," Lee said. "Fife Council’s own structure plan says there should not be development in areas of great scenic beauty or on areas of undeveloped coastline.

"There should also be no development unless there is an area. Golf people will argue against this, I am sure, but to me manicured fairways, greens and little flags with sand bunkers all around is development. They will say it improves the look of the area but I’m afraid not everyone wants everywhere to look like a golfing theme park."

Lee said the Forum’s planning committee decided to object to the course after hours of careful consideration of planning regulations. "That’s why we were shocked when the Forum voted not to object on the chairman’s casting vote. I felt I had little choice but to stand down."

With golf so important to the fabric of the town’s economy, objectors to the sport’s dominance are often reluctant to break cover.

One consistent critic has been Dorothea Morrison, the former chairman of the St Andrews Preservation Trust. "Some people just feel that this continual development of golf courses cannot go on. Every new course brings more traffic, which is becoming a real threat to the very beautiful old buildings in this lovely town," she said. "I know golf is very important here but it should not be the be-all and end-all."

Not all the town’s private course owners are sympathetic to the plans either as they fear their business will be damaged by yet another public course. However, the St Andrews Bay Golf Resort, which has just opened two new courses to the south of the town, says it welcomes another addition.

The Links Trust says it is responding to demand. "If anything, a new course should increase the attraction to visiting golfers as there will be more variety to choose from, so hopefully more bedrooms will be filled," said spokeswoman Carolyne Nurse.