Autum start for street upgrade

The Citizen, 14 May 2004

Work to complete a £1.35m upgrade of South Street, in St Andrews' town centre, could start in September.

Derek Crowe, Fife Council's area transportation manager, told the Citizen this week that the first phase of the partnership project - involving the council, Scottish Enterprise Fife and others in the St Andrews World Class Initiative - had been completed but for replacement street lighting.

A style of column which would enhance the skyline had now been chosen and was available for inspection near the West Port as part of a public consultation process.

Mr Crowe said the improvements to the area from West Port to Bell Street had cost £450,000.

Phase two - from Bell Street to Church Street - was expected to cost from £600,000 to £900,000.

The new lighting was being considered for the "South Street avenue" to give it a consistent appearance and as the older, higher, columns needed to be replaced.

"Traders were pleased that there wasn't a tremendous amount of inconvenience to customers regarding difficulties of access while the work was going on,'' said Mr Crowe.

"Generally, there was a lot of co-operation and it did not impact on businesses greatly at all. Our plan would be to continue that method of construction in the next session.

''A public exhibition is planned for May 26 in the Burgh Chambers and there will be public notices detailing the public consultation period.

''The plans are coming separately to the community council on June 7, after which we will go into the planning process.''

He said it was hoped the work would improve South Street as part of the vision for the future of the town, and raise its whole standard.

"We will be reviewing the condition of the trees, their stability and their location,'' he added.

''Trees are very important in the South Street avenue. If they have to be removed then anything brought back in would be substantial and give pleasure for many years into the future.

"We will be reconstructing footways using high quality materials and widening them to give more pedestrian priorities.

''The carriageway will need to be reconstructed, generally, from Bell Street to Church Street as the roadway is now in relatively poor condition.

''There will also be some slight changes to the crossing facilities there. These will be subject to a public consultation exercise.

''At the moment, the crossing outside Madras College operates reasonably well although there is an extremely busy pelicon crossing outside W.H. Smith which would operate better as a zebra crossing, giving priority to pedestrians.

''We accept that might not suit everyone.''

Mr Crowe said only South Street was to be improved. "Any works to Bell Street itself, or Church Street, will have to be carried out later in the project. These will be unaffected except at their junctions with South Street for this project,'' he explained.

"We have to consider anything major in the way of events and busy periods and would hope that -once we complete the necessary statutory processes - we could start the work in September. It would then be undertaken in sections, as was phase one, to avoid peak periods.

"We are only at the early stage of planning at the moment.''