Five public spaces to replace car parking spaces in busy St Andrews street

Fife Council is seeking permission to carry out the environmental improvements in South Street which would follow on from the short-term approvals given to hospitality businesses to serve outdoors during lockdown. It has earmarked five ‘build out’ sites along the busy street where the pavement would be widened, replacing the existing temporary buildouts with permanent measures.

The new public realm areas will provide space for hospitality use, public seating, cycle parking and enhanced greening.

If signed off, the plans would create four additional disabled parking spaces and a new zebra crossing, up to 15 new seats/benches, five new cycle parking rack locations, six new trees, in planters, and two loading areas. The changes would also lead to the loss of 41 car parking spaces - three spaces fewer than the temporary footway build outs during Covid 44 car parking spaces were removed to allow for social distancing.

Councillors will have the final say on the plans which were lodged this week on behalf of the local authority.

A supporting statement, submitted as part of the application, said: “Whilst potential use of the buildouts by adjacent hospitality premises is fundamental to the designs, each buildout also contains space for informal use by the public. The proposals aim to provide people-orientated spaces, strengthening the local sense of place, with vibrant street life, such as outdoor dining and hospitality.”

The build outs vary in size with the biggest proposed at 42metres near Janetta’s ice cream parlour which is a hugely popular destination for tourists.

In January 2023, an extensive public consultation was undertaken and the results demonstrated that 46% of respondents were in favour of retaining the additional pedestrian spaces, against 42% who wanted them removed. Additionally, 12% were in favour of keeping some of the implemented zones.

Preliminary designs for two layout options, for each of the five sites, were advanced last year and shown to local groups. Based on the feedback, the two options for each site have now been reduced to a single ‘preferred’ proposal for each site.

The work would not normally require planning consent, but the sites are within the town’s conservation area, hence planning consent is being sought via five separate applications.