A PROMINENT campaigner in the fight to safeguard the landscape setting of St Andrews has warned the town’s southern hillside is under “serious threat” despite the land recently being designated as green belt.
St Andrews Community Council planning committee member Penny Uprichard expressed dismay that despite being within or partially within green belt land, large sites at St Nicholas Farm 26.6 hectares and near Craigtoun Road 56 hectares have been listed in a Fife Council consultation document as areas which could, in theory, be developed for housing in future.
A 29.4 hectare site at Pipelands Farm on the southern hillside has also been identified as having potential for development.
Fife Council has stated this site “will not be assessed further”, however, because a Scottish Government reporter concluded development would be “detrimental to the landscape setting of St Andrews… and that the site should instead be part of the St Andrews green belt”.
That is despite another part of the Pipeland site already identified as the favoured option for a new single-site Madras College.
The issue has been raised as a series of public drop-in sessions continue as part of the main consultation stage of the FIFEplan Main Issues Report.
The process is helping prepare the Fife Local Development Plan, which will replace the current three local plans in Fife and last for 10 years from 2015.
Miss Uprichard told St Andrews Community Council: “If you look at the St Nicholas Farm site, that’s ‘Muir land’ and so is much of the Pipelands site.
“Fife Council and Muir seem to be having a very cosy relationship together.
“Everyone knows Muir has been trying to build houses on the southern hillside for years. Both these sites are mainly green belt land and prime agricultural land, so how can they be put forward as sites for possible future development?
“To pursue these sites when they are in green belt and prime agricultural land is quite extraordinary.”
The concerns were backed by fellow community councillor Ian Goudie, who said: “The southern hillside is in severe danger. The writing is really on the wall.”
Muir Group director Ronnie Muir said: “These are old submissions made last April, and prior to the adoption of the local plan, which has since zoned the land as green belt.”
malexander@thecourier.co.uk