Fife football club's £10,000 boost towards new floodlights

Fife Council has approved funding for a £10,000 contribution to St. Andrews United FC for new floodlights.

The money was confirmed at a meeting of north-east Fife area committee.

Following on from a successful campaign last year, the club was invited to become a full member of the SFA.

The new floodlights are needed to meet the Scottish Football Association (SFA) conditions of membership. That would allow the club to be entered into the Scottish Cup which would boost its profile, and provide the opportunity for supporters to see some big-name clubs play in town.

The funding will be distributed through the Common Good Fund which currently has a total of £93,127 un-allocated in addition to revenue balances of £109,455. The total cost of the project is £44,000.

St. Andrews United is contributing £20,000, St. Andrews Community Trust £10,000 and the Football Partnership £1,000. There is a funding application pending for £1,500 from the East of Scotland league and a target to raise £1,500 through Crowd Funding.

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Cllr Bill Porteous said: "Congratulations to the team for playing very well and also the fact they've raised so much money through various sources. All power to them and I hope they have a very good season."

St. Andrews Community Council was consulted about the funding application before it went to committee.

All councillors were supportive of the funding, but concerns were raised over the floodlit pitches being made available to other teams and the public.

A report presented to the committee stated that both the ground and social club of St. Andrews United are used by various organisations and good causes, including St. Andrews Colts and Hosting Hope and until recently facilities were provided for the NEF Hub.

However, St. Andrews Cllr Brian Thompson, said he believed the pitch use by others was 'exaggerated' in the report - and he was concerned about the benefit the floodlights will have to the common good if other sports teams in St Andrews are not able to access the pitch.

He said: "I fully support the efforts of the club to improve itself, but my concern is the benefit to the common good that this will have.

"I am not aware of St. Andrews Colts using the actual football ground, and what I suggested at a meeting last week is that we get some sort of commitment from St. Andrews United that local clubs, such as St. Andrews Colts and St Andrews Amateurs, do get access to the ground if they wish in use of the floodlights."

Cllr Jane Ann Liston for St. Andrews agreed: "Perhaps we can make it known to the club that we are expecting it to make its premises available to other people."

The application was granted at today's meeting on the condition that other sports teams and members of the public in the area may use the pitch.

> Hannah Brown is the Local Democracy Reporter for Fife & Angus

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