A plan to prevent part of Tayport slipping into the Tay has been given a tentative green light by Fife councillors.
High tides and storms in recent years have prompted the owners of Tayport Caravan Park to take action to stop the coastal erosion which has put the site’s defences at risk.
Proposals have been put forward to remove the rock on the shore and replace it with an engineered rock armour structure to replicate the 280m line of existing sea defence.
But while the work has been welcomed, councillors have expressed concern about how the project might fit in with wider plans to defend Fife’s coast from the elements over the coming decades.
Fife’s Shoreline Management Plan, which was appoved earlier this year, identified Tayport as one of five areas particularly at risk in the next 20 years and that has prompted fears that any work at the caravan park site might be superseded as the council seeks to get to grips with the issue.
Councillor Maggie Taylor said: ”The plan has been published and it shows that the Fife coast comes out very badly in the report, erosion-wise. Whether part of it will be there in 50 to 100 years is debatable.
”I don’t want this all put in only for Fife Council to come back in a year’s time and say ‘take it all away, we have decided on something else’.”
Councillor Tim Brett said there are more than 250 homes at risk in Tayport, adding: ”My hope is that what we’re being asked to approve will be compatible with the long-term plans for the area.”
The caravan park is a long-established holiday site with 94 static pitches at the south-west end of Tayport. The site, which is two to three metres above shore level, is on the site of a former town rubbish tip and run on a long-term lease from Fife Council.
As such, the need for the work was highlighted to councillors this week, who were told that the exact contents of the former landfill site are not recorded and could contaminate sea water should the existing defences fail.
As well as Tayport, the management plan identified Kincardine, Newburgh, Lower Largo to Anstruther and St Andrews to Guardbridge as areas at risk of tidal inundation within 20 years.