By Gordon Berry

THE CHAIRWOMAN of the board of Bell Baxter High School in Cupar has expressed her “bitter disappointment” over the loss to the school and the town of a new all-weather sports pitch.

The comment has come from Mrs Norma Davis in the wake of a fierce debate which split opinion in Cupar, and led to an opportunity for £375,000 of lottery funding being missed.

The planning application for the community use pitch was rejected by members of Fife Council’s east area development committee by a very narrow margin after there had been weeks of controversy over the proposals and the way they had been handled.

The local councillor in Cupar South, Margaret Kennedy, had claimed that members of the committee had been “boxed into a corner” by council officials as the funding deadline approached, and she had expressed a preference for investigations into other possible sites.

The local residents who objected had expressed fears about noise and disturbance, but the council’s education service was adamant the chosen site was the only appropriate one.

Mrs Davis has said in her annual report that she had attended the two planning meetings in County Buildings which decided the issue, and she had been bitterly disappointed that the plans had been rejected by local councillors.

“The school board is unanimously agreed that the pitch should be within school grounds.

“The facility has been waited for over many years and would have tremendous benefits to the 1800 plus pupils at Bell Baxter, and to the hundreds of children still to come in the future.”

She went on to say that the sheer size and population of the school justifies an all-weather pitch on site and she said that crossing the busy main road to Duffus Park—which has been suggested as a possible alternative site—would be too dangerous and time consuming.

“The board stands firm in supporting the school for its own pitch, on its own site” she said.

Elsewhere in her report the chairwoman said that the school board provides an integral part of communication between parents, teachers, school administration and the Fife Education Authority. She said that parents are invited to attend board meetings and to gain an insight into how the school functions.

She also made it clear that during the year the board had met members of the pupil council to give them the opportunity to discuss their views and concerns and so that they could also find out in more detail the role of the school board itself.

“This meeting was a very successful and rewarding enterprise. The pupils were very enthusiastic, asking many questions and advancing many opinions and suggestions,” she said.