Cupar North: Council and developer criticised for ‘lack of co-operation and transparency’

Persimmon Homes is forging ahead with plans which would bring more than 1,400 new homes to local farmland, a new primary school and a relief road.

But local residents have reacted with anger after a drop-in event organised by Cupar Community Council to discuss the proposals in detail last week was not attended by any representative from either the council or Persimmon.

Now Bryan Poole, who is a Cupar resident and served on the local authority for many years, has slammed the reluctance of both to properly involve the local community.

‘The secrecy and unwillingness to have an open and honest discussion with the local community has effectively created a stand-off between any developer, Fife Council and the overwhelming majority of the local community which was and I think still is wholly avoidable,” he explained.

“Having read the application in some detail there are aspects which would bring benefits to the town – for example the proposed housing might help young people to get on the housing ladder and/or make it easier to access affordable housing and the proposed increase in population would benefit local businesses and potentially strengthen local community organisations.

“But the lack of communication has allowed genuine concerns such as the scale of the development, huge doubts about the envisaged timescale of development - the application anticipates a 15 year development on the basis of 100 new house per year - yet Cupar has never had a new-build rate of 50 houses per year, and this would extend the development to around 30 years!

“Cupar Sewage works is currently at capacity according to SEPA and will require significant upgrading to support any new housing – but the application makes scant reference to this.

“Will the local health centre and local schools have the capacity to serve an additional 3000 people?

“There are so many questions local people have that have never been properly considered and answered and thus instead of this being a welcomed development it has and is creating division and resentment - and my goodness we have more than enough of that at the moment.”

Mr Poole has again appealed to all parties, and Fife councillors, to take action to improve relations as things stand and ensure that local people are fully involved.

“To increase Cupar or any town for that matter by 30% is a monumental undertaking and it certainly shouldn’t be imposed without the involvement of the community it will impact on,” he said.

“All it takes is for Fife Council and Persimmon to sit down with a cross community group representing the various interest groups in Cupar and together take this application forward.

“Not to do so is the interests of no-one.”

Persimmon Homes has not responded to requests for comment, but Fife Council service manager Alastair Hamilton explained that - as it is a live planning application - it wouldn't be appropriate for a planning officer to attend the meeting.

"We have to be impartial when determining an application and attendance could potentially compromise this position,” he stressed.

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