The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Half-finished St Andrews street surface to be torn up
Temporary asphalt installed on a St Andrews street is to be torn up after permission was refused by councillors.
Transport officers from Fife Council started replacing pre-cast concrete paving in September before being told they needed a permit because Queen’s Gardens falls within the central conservation area.
Their half-finished works have now been refused consent after Councillor Linda Holt tabled a motion at the planning committee. She told the meeting: “I notice that transportation are going for asphalt because it’s cheaper, but sometimes we have to stand up for quality and retaining quality for a quality place like St Andrews.”
By means of a concession, transport officers had proposed traditional Caithness slabs for the north end of the street outside the B-listed Town Hall that would match similar paving on the adjoining South Street. They argued that paving the entire pavement with the matching slabs would be “cost prohibitive” – four times more than the asphalt works.
As a “secondary” street, they said, Queen’s Gardens was not afforded the same privileges as main thoroughfares such as South Street.
While council planning chief Alastair Hamilton said he did not buy “the argument that tarmac is so fundamentally unacceptable in this context”, residents, councillors and the council’s own heritage officer disagreed.
Derek Crowe, senior transportation manager, has apologised for what he called “any confusion around the process” that led to planning permission being sought.
While the pavement plans were refused, officers dodged a bullet when it came to another retrospective application for street lamps on the same road.
The taller, “Windsor” style street lamps are around five metres tall and replace older three metretall posts that officers say are obsolete.
However, residents say the lights are out-of-character for the area and shine invasively into residential first-floor bedrooms.
Professor Richard Olver, chairman of the Queen’s Gardens and Queen’s Terrace Residents’ Association, said Fife Council had hoped to “mark its own homework” by seeking permission after works had been completed.