Blueprint for new budget hotel is given short shrift by local groups

The creation of a new budget hotel in St Andrews has been opposed by the town’s community council and preservation trust.

A Holiday Inn Express will be built on Largo Road, near the Premier Inn, if planning permission is issued to Edinburgh-based Waverley Tweed.

However, the contemporary building proposed would be “yet another flat-roofed block”, according to St Andrews Community Council.

The organisation also said the change in use of the site, currently occupied by the Garden Mowers and Tools shop, would result in a loss of employment land.

In an objection to Fife Council, community council planning convener Penny Uprichard said: “The design of the hotel is yet another flatroofed block, of which there are now so many in St Andrews. Although the site is not in the conservation area, the proposed block will not add in any way to the Largo Road streetscape.”

She also said it was difficult to see how busy Largo Road could cope with more traffic and there was no evidence another hotel was required in St Andrews.

St Andrews Preservation Trust said creation of a 62-bedroom hotel where a thriving business currently stands would lead to the loss of scarce employment land.

Its planning convener Dorothea Morrison said: “Should this business have to close there are no alternate sites close to the heart of the town.”

Waverley Tweed said the design of the hotel was sympathetic to its location. A 57-space car park would be located at the rear, with 20 spaces underground accessed by a vehicle lift.