St Andrews house faces demolition to build new flats

The property at Lade Braes is to be knocked down and replaced by eight flats

Twenty letters of objection were submitted, with concerns ranging from the new building not fitting in with the surrounding conservation area, a loss of green space and the vehicles entering and exiting the property would create a road safety hazard.

St Andrews councillor Jane-Ann Liston echoed these concerns, saying: “When I was reading this report, I noticed there was hardly a mention of the traffic concerns. A Fife counter saw that more than 3000 cars use that road every day.

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“The access on to that road, especially on a slope, is giving me a lot of concern. I’d be interested to hear what measures would be taken for traffic flow.”

Richard Simmons, transportation manager said: “It was actually 11,000 cars per day that were measured over a three week period. It’s not unusual to have an access like that on to a road with that level of vehicles. Transportation didn’t see it as an issue.”

Councillors were also told that as this was a new build, the policy not to grant an HMO licence would be in place.

Councillor Liston wasn’t satisfied with the traffic issues and proposed that they reject the application.

She said: “I’m not at all happy about the access onto that road. We’ve already had to put a crossing onto it, because of the high level of traffic. There are just too many cars on it.”

But Councillor Dominic Nolan proposed an amendment that they grant the application, with an advisory about additional lighting in the public areas.

The application was granted in a vote of eight to three.