Move to establish tourism company

The Citizen, 10 September 2004

The drive to turn St Andrews into a 'world class' visitor destination has led to proposals to establish a new company which would take forward plans to raise the town's tourism profile.

Members of Fife Council's environment and development committee this week voted in favour of turning 'St Andrews World Class' from an informal 'vision group' into a company limited by guarantee.

While the creation of a new company has still to be formally agreed upon by various stakeholders, it seems likely that the plan will go ahead.

The move is seen as a way to formalise the management arrangements for the project, which is backed by several public sector bodies, including the council, Scottish Enterprise and Kingdom of Fife Tourist Board.

Tourist Board chief executive, Patrick Laughlin, said that the move to establish a company limited by guarantee is being made to provide a vehicle to take forward emerging plans for the town.

Plans include the controversial improvements to South Street and the rest of the town centre, creating a public orientation centre at the St Andrews University Gateway Building, and the joint promotion of golf facilities.

Those involved with the project believe that it will result in a massive increase in tourism revenue and the creation of up to 1000 new jobs across Fife.

Mr Laughlin told the Citizen: "Very often, if we are looking to apply for grants and public funds, we need an incorporated body through which the latter can be channelled.

''We took legal advice and it is felt a company limited by guarantee is the simplest way of doing this."

Mr Laughlin also hinted that the new company could lead to the employment of a dedicated team of staff.

He added: "If the project was eventually to employ people, the company could hire individuals to do jobs rather than staff from public agencies."

While it has already been decided that five members of the company board will be drawn from the public sector, Mr Laughlin said that the majority of the board membership will be drawn from local businesses, as well as from St Andrews University and the town's Links Trust.

Bob Inch, secretary of St Andrews Merchants' Association, agreed that there should be a bigger representation from the business community involved with St Andrews World Class.

However, he expressed concern about the confusion surrounding some of the projects undertaken by the group, in particular the South Street improvements.

Mr Inch said it was unclear who was responsible for the plans.

The issue was also discussed at Monday night's meeting of St Andrews Community Council, at which members discussed whether to lobby for representation on the board of St Andrews World Class.

It was eventually agreed that representatives from the company should be asked to provide an update on their activities, but suspicion remains over the group's intentions for the town. Ian Goudie, who sits on the community council's planning committee, said: ''We do need to think carefully about how we are going to contest this group. They see St Andrews as a resource to be exploited rather than a place where people have to live.

"The question is whether we will be properly informed about their activities at all and whether we will be properly consulted.

''One has to be very cynical about this - I see no reason to believe the validity of their economic forecast and we do need to think about what the knock-on implications are going to be."