A veteran campaigner has defended comments she made about Fife councillors’ handling of planning applications submitted by St Andrews University.
In an interview with the St Andrews University student newspaper, The Saint, tenacious campaigner Penny Uprichard, who is a member of St Andrews Community Council planning committee, said “the existence of the strategic agreement between Fife Council and the university makes it unlikely that university applications will be refused”.
This led to criticism from St Andrews Labour Fife councillor Brian Thomson, who questioned the “reasonableness” of her comments.
Mr Thomson said: “Subsequent to the publication of the article, Miss Uprichard has confirmed in an email to St Andrews councillors that she did not use the word ‘bias’.
“However, she has also reaffirmed her view that ‘the existence of the strategic agreement between Fife Council and the university makes it unlikely that university applications will be refused.’
“Quite frankly, I view this as a slur on all of the councillors in north-east Fife who have been involved in the determination of planning applications submitted by the university.
“Personally, I assess each planning application on its own merits as a councillor should and the fact that I’ve voted to refuse two planning applications submitted by the university since I was elected as a councillor in 2012 clearly demonstrates the inaccuracy of Miss Uprichard’s comments.”
But Miss Uprichard stood by her remarks.
She said: “Given that the university is the major developer in St Andrews, that the university consortium (the university, Headon Developments and Montgomery Forgan) proposed a minimum of 1,000 houses in the western extension a proposal which was then included in the structure and local plans by Fife Council and was approved in due course that the medical building, the arts building, the purchases of Greyfriars School and a number of other university proposals have been approved, I think my remarks were accurate.
“I must also point out to Mr Thomson that during the interview I made it very clear that the views expressed were my own, and that I was not speaking on behalf of community council.
“This was not included in the article.
“Why does Mr Thomson regard my reference to the existence of the strategic agreement between Fife Council and the university as a ‘slur’?
“Why does he think that the agreement, which includes ‘strategic land use’, was put in place?”