Patients in the community hospital in St Andrews could be subjected to the noise of 200 lorries trundling past their windows each day if a controversial planning application is given the go-ahead.
The company behind a multi-million-pound golf development on the outskirts of St Andrews has sparked concern with its proposal to multiply the number of HGVs serving the site by 10.
The local community council is particularly angry that the public has not been given the chance to object to the move as planning officers regard the change as minor.
Plans for the £25 million golf course at Feddinch, agreed some time ago, included a clause that soil would be moved from the new Madras site at Pipeland to the development site for landscaping works. Councillors agreed that no more than 20 HGVs would travel the country route per day.
The final decision on the proposed change will be made by north-east Fife planning committee without any public input.
Penny Uprichard, chairwoman of St Andrews community council’s planning committee, said plans for the golf development had been on the table for 13 years but the latest move was concerning.
“This involves 200 eight-wheeler trucks a day for six to eight weeks,” she said.
In a letter to Fife Council on behalf of the committee, she added: “It will result in a huge impact from the proposed traffic on local roads, on the community hospital and on residents.”
Council manager Mary Stewart said: “These amendment applications are asking for up to 200 vehicle movements per day for a period of six-eight weeks to allow the importation and use of the material that would be excavated from the Madras College site.
“Outwith that period the maximum vehicle movement would remain as 20 HGV movements per day.”