A CUPAR group set up to oppose the "massive and poorly conceived expansion" of the town in the new Fife Structure Plan, has claimed that in the current economic climate there is no way even the biggest of developments can pay for a town bypass.
The Cupar Against Rural Development group (CARD) said the recently approved Structure Plan was pushed through by Fife Council officials despite "unprecedented opposition" from the local community.
Although the plan covers Fife as a whole, the impl
ications for Cupar are enormous with the initial 1200 houses approved by Fife Council jumping up to 1400 or more following a reappraisal by the Scottish Government.
It was expected that the expansion of 'Cupar North' by a consortium of local developers would result in money being generated for a northerly bypass.
However, CARD believes too much emphasis was placed on "housing numbers erroneously based on pre-credit crunch projections and unjustified economic arguments."
A spokesperson said: "It remains to be seen whether the proposed housing will generate enough spare income to build a relief road, notably not a bypass, let alone provide for new schooling, doctors and dentists, sewerage, drainage and other vital infrastructure.
"The economics which looked shaky enough before the recession, look even less convincing now."
He added: "According to officials improvements to the town centre cannot be made until the congestion in the town centre is addressed by a relief road.
"It has to be remembered that the officials boasted that Fife Council would not have to put any public money into this scheme, as it would be self-financing."
The spokesman added that it got no satisfactory answer from council officials when it posed the question of what would happen if half a bypass was built and the sale or houses slowed or stopped as has happened in the past during some development in Cupar.
CARD said it would continue to monitor any developments to ensure that Cupar, "at the very least gets the improvements it has been promised."
