By Gordon Berry

PLANS FOR a new £18 million hospital and health centre for St Andrews could be seen as “premature” by Fife Council in light of proposals for a green belt for the town.

This has been made clear in a document which indicates that NHS Fife still has some way to go before it can persuade officials and councillors that its “preferred site” at Largo Road will be acceptable.

The health authority recently revealed that it wants to press ahead with plans for the long-awaited hospital at the site on the outskirts of the town.

The land lies on the opposite side of the busy main A915 St Andrews-Kirkcaldy road from the Safeway supermarket.

A range of different bodies have been asked for their opinions on subjects which should be tackled in the environmental impact assessment that will be required as part of the planning process.

The responses have come from various council departments and bodies such as Scottish Natural Heritage, Historic Scotland, the Royal Fine Art Commission, and the Scottish Civic Trust as well as local organisations.

The responses show that within the council itself, planners, economic development officials, and transportation engineers all have questions to ask about the Largo Road site.

Planners Nick Brian and Jenny Racionzer said that the design and landscape assessments and possibilities for a development and a site are important, and that managing the situation through an outline planning application ahead of a PPP approach will need careful handling.

The officials have pointed out that the site is part of a gateway into the town and they have also raised questions about traffic flows and use of sites that will be vacated by the existing health premises.

They have said that the proposal is likely to prejudice the process of identifying the green belt and could therefore be considered premature in terms of structure plan policy.

One of the “key issues” for assessment, the officials said, would be justification for progressing with the proposal outwith the structure and local plan review process.

Economic development official Jim McLeish said that he was disappointed that loss of “employment” land at the Largo Road site was not a matter to be considered in a report provided by the developer.

He said that in his view this was a matter requiring “detailed attention.” Notwithstanding the fact that any hospital would be a significant employer, he wanted to see consideration of how the loss of business land might impede the town from providing for business growth and local employment opportunities.

The council’s transportation officials have made it clear that they still consider that the more central site at St Leonards should be the preferred option for the new hospital in terms of accessibility, transport and land use.

They have said that an assessment of transport should maximise sustainable travel such as walking, cycling and public transport.