Task group aim to fill town's 'potential'

The Citizen, 13 December 2002

A group of businesspeople have joined forces "to help St Andrews fulfil its true potential."

The St Andrews Tourism Task Group (TTG), who all have business interests in the tourism industry in the town, want to promote it as a world-class destination to visit and as a great place to live and work.

The TTG have now approached a number of other interested public, private and community groups to seek their input.

So far, that has come from the St Andrews Partnership Group, Kingdom of Fife Tourist Board and Scottish Enterprise Fife who have all expressed their support for the new group.

Spokesperson for the TTG, Ann Murray-Smith, owner of the Rufflets Hotel and a long-term resident of the town, said: "This is the start of what is expected to be an extensive period of development and consultation, which has to start somewhere and will inevitably take some time to complete.

"The group are keen to continue engaging with a wider audience to seek further guidance and input in shaping our current thinking - including consultations with, among others, local councillors, community interests, public sector agencies and private sector bodies - until a clear view on the broad principles of a vision for the future emerges."

She said that there was a "desperate need" for a set of ideas to provide a future for co-ordinated action.

She felt that the group could help resolve issues which were long-running in St Andrews, such as traffic congestion, parking, litter and waste collection, among others.

She continued: "Once the thinking on the vision is refined, the group's view is that a potential way forward might lie in a joint public/private approach which could start with an informal partnership involving bodies such as Scottish Enterprise Fife, the Tourist Board, Fife Council and the task group itself."

She said the whole initiative was about conserving the best of St Andrews while addressing the issues constraining its ability to fulfil its role as "a key economic driver in the prosperity of Fife."