In The Courier the community council points out that, even in the latest Fife Structure Plan, there was required a list of routes and land to be safeguarded from development prejudicial to existing or future transportation use. Included was the ‘St Andrews Public Transport Route’ but this has been left out completely from the local plan.
Community council char Dr Ian Goudie said, ‘Recalling that such a route was shown on the corresponding map for the 2005 draft local plan, we deplore the negative approach of Fife Council on this matter. As climate change begins to bite, the case for reinstatement of the rail link to St Andrews can only strengthen. The major potential benefit of a railhead in St Andrews is that such people are attracted back to public transport, thereby yielding reductions in carbon emissions over much longer journeys than the length of the rail link itself.’
What the community council dubs ‘the reckless strategy’ of the Structure Plan has further increased the requirement for the rail link. ‘The size of the town is to be increased by over 1000 houses by 2026, but no quantitative assessment has been made of the effect on the twon centre of the consequential increase in vehicular traffic,’ concluded Dr Goudie.