Newsletter - 2009 Local Plan Consultation Edition

A new Madras College

Fife Council intends to create a single-site Madras College and is understood to have initially considered a list of a dozen possible sites. That was reduced to just two – a re-use of the Kilrymont site or a greenfield site to the west of town provided by the University. In the early autumn, two University sites were believed to be possible – at the western end of the North Haugh, or a higher site at the level of the Sports Centre. In consultation with the University, the Education Committee recently chose the latter, the so-called “Langlands B” site.

Map based on OpenStreetMap

The Madras Parent Council notes that the Kilrymont Building has been allowed to deteriorate generally, has asbestos which needs to be removed, and redevelopment – although deemed feasible by the Scottish Government’s consultants - is bedevilled by the recent imposition of listed building status. It sees positive advantages in the Langlands B site. Officials have described this as “a move to the heart of the University” and establishing a relationship with the University that is unique in Scotland. As well as contact of an academic nature, shared sports facilities are promised.

The choice of the school site is likely to impact, to varying degrees, on all residents of the town. Community Council members are concerned at the lack of public information on why some sites are being ruled out, and believe the projected completion date may well raise false hopes. The Langlands B site would mean that the school buses no longer need to go through the town, but it raises a range of different possible problems

Questions worth considering

• What would the effects on traffic be?
  Would parental cars create traffic jams in City Road before school each morning?
  If there is access from Hepburn Gardens, St Leonards Road or Buchanan Gardens, where would parents drop off their children?
• Would sharing of sports facilities work?
  Assertions that the university does not currently use sports facilities during the day do not tally with our experience, and not all community use demand is currently met.
  Would demand be cut by high prices?
• What about climate change?
  Noting that the problem is urgent, the Scottish Government is seeking a massive 42% cut in carbon emissions by 2020. A Tay Bridgehead school would enable Fife Council to cut the total bussing distance by around 50% (and avoid the need for some pupils to sit on buses for over an hour a day). Two smaller schools would cost more than a one large one (but not double the cost), but would cut the annual bussing cost, currently £750,000 and likely to rise in future.
• What would happen to the South St and Kilrymont Buildings?
  Would the listed building status of the latter mean that it would remain empty and undeveloped for years?
• How about the view from the golf courses?
  A three-storey building at the top of the raised beach will be highly visible.
• Can a safe lunchtime regime be assured?
  Assuming many pupils head for the nearest supermarket at lunchtime, as at present, would the footpath provision be adequate (e.g. at the eastern end of Doubledykes Rd)?
• How much would university academics interact with pupils in practice?
  Academics are well aware that they are appointed and promoted largely on their research output.
• Is history repeating itself?
  The Muir Group needed an access road to the southern hillside where it wishes to build 1000 houses. As hospitals attract fewer objections, it provided some of the land for the new hospital, but required a shared access road built to its specification. The Trojan horse strategy worked to perfection. The backers of the western development will also have asked themselves what would smooth their way to planning consent. The secondary school could well do the trick, and provide the access road up to “Langlands” from the A91. What could be simpler?
• What would happen to Station Park?
  Shared sports grounds with the university would make the Madras School Playing Fields redundant. Would a cash-strapped Council be able to resist selling them?
  Would they be used for housing?

When developments are proposed, those who ask questions are routinely accused of imperilling the possible funding. Whilst there may indeed be good answers to some of those above, the Community Council tries to see that, before decisions are taken, as many of the implications as possible are widely understood.