Harbour revamp seen as key to attracting people to St Monans

East neuk: Community figure says plans would help business and tourism

A project to transform St Monans harbour could cement the village’s reputation as a top tourist destination, it has been claimed.

Gordon Bell from the St Monans Community Trust said the proposed regeneration of the waterfront would attract more visitors and support new businesses in the East Neuk.

A planning application for the project has been submitted to Fife Council, the first step in the trust’s attempts to bring new life to the area.

“This would be part of a project to regenerate St Monans in that we want to attract new businesses and jobs and support the businesses already here,” said Mr Bell, the trust’s coordinator for the proposal.

“We have looked at the whole community and the harbour plays a large part in St Monans for a number of reasons.

People have been coming down, have been unable to park and havedriven off again, so we would like to address that. GORDON BELL

“There have been more visitors coming to St Monans via the coastal path but we also want to make it more attractive to people with yachts.

“Since St Monans is getting busier there have also been some issues with parking.

“People have been coming down, have been unable to park and have driven off again, so we would like to address that.”

The trust claims its plans will maintain the harbour as the focal point of St Monans life, building a new seawall, restoring the community beach and green, and improving services for harbour users, including storage for vessels in the winter.

As well as more parking spaces, the west slipway, unusable due to health and safety failings, would be filled in, while a refurbished Winding Shed would be outfitted with showers, toilets and laundry facilities to make the harbour more attractive to visiting sailors.

While convinced of the potential benefits to the community, Mr Bell says the final results will depend on how successful the trust is in sourcing funding.

“What we are doing now is the preparation work,” he added.

“There is no funding in place at the moment, but we are doing all of the things required to seek funding.

“The project has been split into five sections so we might only get funding to do part of it.”

The St Monans Community Trust has now submitted a planning application.