Major expansion of St Andrews came a step closer as the green light was given for hundreds of new homes.
Around 1,470 houses and flats will be built in the St Andrews West expansion zone, including affordable housing.
Some 370 homes at Craigtoun North were approved last year and a further 900 were given the nod on Wednesday.
Plans by the St Andrews West LLP consortium also include land for university and employment use, a care home and sheltered housing and a civic centre with shops and a hotel.
Fife Council’s north east planning committee approved a framework for the extension to the historic town, despite hearing concerns about the impact on the already busy road network, views towards the historic skyline and on wildlife at the North Haugh.
The St Andrews West strategic development area was first set out in Fife’s development plan in 2009, which said it would be suitable for 1,090 houses.
Detailed planning applications will be submitted for individual zones within the 90-hectare site, which includes land for the town’s new secondary school, as it is developed over the next two decades.
Residential development will be focused in the south, west and central areas, with the care home and sheltered housing in the centre.
A raised viewpoint known as the Pilgrims Mound is to be created amid parkland, which it is expected will become a popular attraction.
Most of the North Haugh will be retained as open space with an arboretum, but plans show a single building situated there.
St Andrews Labour councillor Brian Thomson, who abstained from the discussion due to a conflict of interest, said the approval would allow more families and workers to live in the town.
He said: “I do recognise the development will change the landscape setting around the western edge of the town, however, the town has been constrained for far too long, and there is a desperate need for new affordable housing in particular.”
The approval was also very significant for the new Madras College which was agreed by councillors in January, he added.
“With the council’s acquisition of the Langlands site being subject to the approval of St Andrews West planning application, this is a significant step forward, and it’s absolutely essential that the legal agreement is now agreed as soon as possible, to – in turn – allow the planning permission to be issued, the site to be acquired, and construction of the school to commence.”
Legal agreement is to be sought for contributions from the developers to extensions to the new Madras College and Langlands Primary School and road network upgrades.
Traffic lights will installed at roundabouts at Guardbridge, West Port and Buchanan Gardens and Hepburn Gardens in an attempt to mitigate the impact.
Work on a link road which will run from the A91 to Strathkinness High Road has already begun.
