Go-ahead for new Fife golf courses

Gordon Berry, The Courier, 31 March 2004

Tens of millions of pounds worth of new investment could soon be coming to St Andrews along with dozens of new jobs as a result of the approval of major planning applications relating to golf and leisure.

Yesterday members of Fife Council’s East Area development committee gave the go-ahead to two different ventures, one of them a new seventh public course on land at Kinkell and Brownhills, and the other a private club with golf course to be sited at Feddinch to the south-west of the town.

Both sets of plans had been hotly debated locally and in the end the St Andrews Links Trust application was approved by five votes to four after councillors were divided over controls.

It came within a whisker of being delayed due to a move by Councillor Andrew Arbuckle to have “planning gain” measures worth several hundred thousand pounds written into the Section 75 legal agreement to be entered into by the links trust and the council.

The application was eventually passed without the qualifications by the slender margin of only one vote. Mr Arbuckle had attempted to have the links trust pay £50,000 for new play equipment in Lamond Drive, £100,000 towards the St Andrews traffic plan, and a substantial sum, which he had originally put at £200,000, towards leisure and cultural facilities in the town.

The councillor had also suggested that the links trust should grant playing concessions on the new course to residents who live in the catchment area of the local Boarhills and Dunino Community Council.

The other set of plans, for Feddinch, from the St Andrews International Golf Club, was approved by nine votes to three. It involves creation of a new course, and development of 40 two-bedroom suites, for a venture essentially aimed at the overseas market.

As a result of the discussion the developers will not be allowed to start work on site until they have demonstrated to the satisfaction of the planning authority that £7 million-worth of memberships has been fully committed. In addition, the developers will have to pay a bond of £100,000 to cover the potential cost of damage to the existing public road network by construction traffic.

Both developments will also have to be accompanied by green “travel plans,” although the general opinion was expressed by councillors at the meeting that previous experience of such plans has proved to be virtually worthless.

Opposition to both proposals was led by St Andrews councillor Jane Ann Liston, who backed claims made by several objectors that the developments were premature in advance of the new green belt for the town being agreed.

The boundaries are being looked at under the new local plan being developed for East Fife, and councillor Liston said that by approving the applications the council was already “making holes” in the green belt.

Over the past few days objectors have reminded the council of a previous statement by the now retired head of planning David Rae that development proposals submitted in advance of establishment of the green belt boundaries “will be regarded as premature.”

Current planning officials have apparently taken a different view, assessing the plans in light of landscape assessments and consultation with Scottish Natural Heritage.

They stated that approval would not lead to the green belt being prejudiced.

No questions were raised at the meeting about the previous assurance about prematurity.