A FORMER Liberal Democrat Fife councillor for Cupar has expressed her “deepest disappointment” at the way the views of councillors and the town’s community council were ignored by some members of Fife Council, as the authority pressed on with proposals for a massive new housing and bypass development.

The comment from community councillor Loretta Mordi, who represented one of the two Cupar wards until the last elections, comes at a time when concern has been expressed at the performance of some of her former Lib Dem colleagues, who failed to follow up their strongly held views when it came to a vote.

Mrs Mordi, heavily involved in discussions on town centre traffic problems and the Cupar North development, yesterday said she was dismayed some councillors had not held to what they believed.

She added, though, that she had no doubt councillors were pressured by officials who only ever wanted one outcome to the debate.

“Councillors failed to halt the plans for a linked housing and bypass development which would see the road provided through developer-led contributions.

“It would seem that officers have bulldozed their way into getting this approval and some of them must have gone back to their offices breathing a sigh of relief. I think it is outrageous.

“Many people worked tremendously hard over the past 12 months to try to find a suitable or more acceptable plan for Cupar growth and to resolve its traffic problem. However, all of this has been wasted effort.

“There were repeated requests from councillors for traffic options apart from the bypass solution but these requests appeared to be ignored and the options were never produced.”

Mrs Mordi said there is no doubt something had to be done to ease the traffic congestion in the town.

“The town centre needs to be revitalised and some sort of growth is required for this to happen. But for everything to be fully linked to the planning and housing development at Cupar North would be an unjustified burden in the future.

“Why have transportation officials found it so difficult to provide information to councillors on this issue?

“Centralisation has not worked for many contentious and sensitive issues like this, as it tends to ignore the voices and needs of the local community. I believe in local decision making and providing what people want, not just what officials believe they need.

“If there is evidence for justification for a relief road or some sort of traffic solution for Cupar, this should have been good enough to justify a bid for funding from other sources. We would then not have to rely totally on developer contribution and we could have more affordable houses.”

She feels it remains to be seen how much influence can now be had on the masterplan process for Cupar North and the local plan.

“Consultation should mean engagement and involvement of people, from planning to the decision making,” she said. “East Fife and Cupar deserve better, and local people have to be listened to. This has not happened so far.”