7. Options
Joe Headon explains... This page shows two options. Option 1 is the plan that was approved by Fife Council in June of 2009. Fife council planning officers recommended to the East Area Development committee a plan which basically showed the St Andrew West development area as we show in option 2, together with the land at Craigtoun as shown on option 1. The committee recommended that the development area on option 2 be reduced, due to concerns with the impact the development would have on the historic skyline. We have carried out extensive studies on the impact, and we are absolutely confident that our proposed development plan will not impact on the Historic skyline. This is demonstrated on Page 8 - Views. There is little difference between our plan and the council plan other than at the western boundary. The council plan removes over 200 houses from the development area, which would transfer to the land at Craigtoun. The impacts of this on our plan is very serious. Our plan is about getting the vision to work. In order to get the proposed new hubs to function properly, a critical number of units are required. A number of studies suggest that around 1500 will sustain a good neighbourhood centre. The proposed 1090 houses, together with approx 500 existing units in the Hepburn /Buchanan Gardens area, along with homes at Strathcarron and the existing student residences, would equate to approx 1500 units that would be within a 10 minute walk of these new centres. Take these homes away and these shops will struggle to stay open. It is very easy to put a shop on a plan but it is much harder to ensure it stays open. We have all too often seen neighbourhood shops either closed or struggling to survive in neighbourhoods where there is simply not enough business. Our vision is about creating a proper hub that functions and not just a few shops.
Our plan shows large areas of woodland park and sporting facilities. This also would act to define the new green belt boundary. The removal of over 200 houses from this area will have a very grave impact on the viability of the development, and our ability to deliver the vision. We believe that we can accommodate the full 1090 homes as set out in the Structure Plan within option 2. This means that there is no requirement for development at Craigtoun during the life of this plan. The industrial estate proposed to the South of the Craigtoun Rd we consider to be in the worst possible location within St Andrews. This was included in the 30 Strategic development Framework on the councils insistence. This area of town has possibly the worst road network to access it. < Back
Within our development area option 2, we could incorporate some much needed business use. We do not see this in large sheds but in small areas of business space within the development. These would serve the local requirement and some new requirement. Any employment land that cannot be accommodated within our proposed area could be allocated to Guardbridge in line with the Local Plan allocation for Guardbridge. For many businesses being located at Guardbridge would provide much better access and would be more suitable. The business space, which is largely seen as serving the businesses that come from the commercialisation of the University intellectual property, requires to be located adjacent to the University. We accept that some of the land at Craigtoun provides a development opportunity and we worked with Macdonald Estates and mount Melville Estates to produce a 30 year Strategic development Framework. This was at the request of Fife council. While the Structure plan sets the requirements for a 20 year plan good planning and the setting of a longterm greenbelt boundary encourages you to look beyond the plan period. While there is no planning context to look beyond the 20 year plan, it makes sense to consider what might happen beyond this time. The land at Craigtoun would provide an opportunity to reinforce the good planning criteria that is being promoted within our land at option 2. A further hub could be created at Craigtoun in the future. Development at Craigtoun without the link road that will come from St Andrews West, would impact on the traffic considerably. People generally living in this area, if travelling to Dundee, will either go through the town or cut through Lawhead Rd East and west and onto the Strathkiness High Rd or go west to the crossroad beyond Craigtoun and through Strathkinness village. This would put a considerable additional burden on these roads. The new relief road network that would come about through the development of St Andrews West would help alleviate this. Taking development away from St Andrews West will have a very serious, if not detrimental, impact on the delivery of the quality of development that our vision seeks to achieve. Displacing development from St Andrews West will have a very serious knock-on impact and there is no justifiable reason. It is essential that we take the opportunity to get this right and not fall short in making the right decisions and taking them forward. < Back