Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Kingsbarns told lack of mosque and halal butcher make it “impractical” as home for Syrian refugees

Local residents Kate Holy and Martin Dibbs at the site for the new housing in Station Road,
Kingsbarns.
Local residents Kate Holy and Martin Dibbs at the site for the new housing in Station Road, Kingsbarns.

A Fife community which wants to take in Syrian refugees has been told the village is unsuitable due to a lack of necessities including a mosque and halal meat.

Kingsbarns Community Council wanted affordable houses being built to be offered to those who had fled war in their home country if no local tenants needed them.

However, it was advised that a refugee settlement in the East Neuk village would be “impractical” and remote from other Fife towns where people have been resettled.

Campaigners have questioned the reasoning, pointing out that in 2015 Syrian refugees were housed in the Isle of Bute and the local council recently said they now regarded the island as home.

Community council member Kate Holy insisted that “though Kingsbarns is rural, it is not remote”.

She said: “We have easy access to St Andrews where the university’s Islamic Society holds Friday prayers or a bus can be taken every 10 minutes or so to Dundee where there is a choice of three mosques and halal butchers.

“St Andrews is probably the most international settlement in north east Fife because of the numbers of students and teachers from overseas and we are in easy reach of Anstruther and St Andrews medical practices.”

She also criticised the local authority for failing to inform the community its proposal was contrary to Fife’s refugee settlement plan until almost four months after it was made.

“Expectations have been raised, a lot of hard work has been done and we are left feeling that the lack of communication from Fife Council has again showed with what contempt it holds its communities,” she said.

North East Fife MP Stephen Gethins urged the council to reverse its decision on the “highly commendable” proposal, which he had earlier brought to the attention of United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

He said: “It is very disappointing that notification of the proposal to resettle Syrian refugee families in Kingsbarns would not take place was not provided sooner, and prior to any initial work being undertaken by the local community.

“It is important that Fife Council reconsiders its position and reacts positively to this generous gesture.”

Two affordable homes built during the first phase of development by Ogilvie Homes were sold as mainstream housing due to a lack of interest.

The council has agreed to buy the two properties in the second phase to be added to its housing stock.

Gavin Smith, housing access and homelessness service manager, said: “Kingsbarns Community Council’s offer to help refugee families is both commendable and appreciated.”

He said dialogue with the community council had led to the commitment to purchase the two houses but added: “The council’s housing allocation policy must be applied consistently and fairly.

“There are many people in need of housing and we can’t commit to using these properties for a particular customer group.

 

“We have already housed 91 refugees in Fife using an approach agreed by our local Syrian core co-ordination group – a partnership of public and third sector organisations.

“Our approach to finding homes for refugees has been informed by experience of working with the Home Office, the national framework and direct, ongoing contact with Syrian families and their representatives.

“Our main concern is to meet the needs of each household, while being able to support integration across various communities on a planned basis.”