Cupar North plans go public

An artist's impression of how the new houses at Cupar North will look

It promises more homes than in Newburgh and  hundreds of jobs.

But protesters say the plan is even bigger than they first feared.

Now the Campaign Against Cupar North group is arranging a public meeting for February 1.

Spokesman for the group, Gina Logan, said the time and venue had yet to be finalised but the aim of the event was to advise people how to go about lodging a formal objection.

“I’d like to thank everyone who responded to our leaflet campaign last year and now that the application has been made public we are asking for support once again.

“The proposed development is even bigger than we feared it would be; it would be like creating a whole new town on the edge of Cupar.

“Because of its size the Community Council will also be asking for an extension to the 28-day timeframe for comments.”

The application was submitted to Fife Council just after Christmas but because of its size and complexity it only appeared on Fife Council’s website on Tuesday.

Included in the documents is a ‘masterplan’ that extends to more than 260 pages.

It concludes that the design of the development would ‘build upon the character and local identity of the surrounding area and Fife as a whole.’

The proposed strategy would be to create 10 pockets of residential developments, all connected to a central landscaped corridor and a network of walking and cycling routes to the town centre.

Affordable homes would account for 20 per cent of the housing.

However the document does not mention who would pay for the relief road, which has been a source of contention since the notion of Cupar North was first proposed a decade ago.

The campaign group also says it’s not necessary now that town centre improvements have been carried out.