Make Cupar's social housing green, community council demands

And it’s not just about plans to alter the Pitscottie Road juntion with Tarvit Avenue.

Discussion about that was largely sidelined at this week’s community council meeting as members debated the balance between getting much-needed social housing for Cupar quickly and the desire to ensure sustainable development in the town.

Community council member Gordon Pay told members that the plans missed an opportunity to create a sustainable, green development in the town, with plans contrary to government planning guidelines.

“I think this needs to go back to the drawing board,” he said, adding: “I think sustainable development in Cupar is key – there is no cost to this other than drawing it right in the first place.”

Andy Collins reminded the council that government guidance on designing street was clear: “pedestrians come first.”

And he continued: “I fully support social housing, but that is not the issue here. All the plans for housing coming forward are for little enclaves,” he added, lamenting that they were not linked by footpaths.

But Robert Graham was keen that the community council should back the plan so that it could get off the ground quickly: “We have a need for affordable housing in Cupar. I think we should be supporting social housing and we should not delay that unnecessarily.”

By just one vote the council agreed to back the development, but called for it to be re-designed to be sustainable.