Fife Council and St Andrews CC back railway

The Starlink campaign welcomes the support from the Community Council and Fife Council and looks forward to the project being taken to the next stage.

Cllr Thomson has every right for raising his concerns, and one would hope the other representatives, not only of St Andrews but also of the other parts of Fife which stand to benefit from a new railway, will also make their views known. However, his statement that ‘major issues … should be addressed before the proposed project proceeds any further’ but that he opposes the spending of ‘any public money on further feasibility work’ is unrealistic and begs the question as to whence the resources to address these issues will come? The campaign has gone beyond what amateurs can do so it is surely time for the professionals to do their job and investigate the proposals further. As is clearly stated in the feasibility study, the design is only at the concept stage, and the place for resolving the concerns of Cllr Thomson and others is further on in the procedure.

Indeed it could be argued that the Starlink campaign has already taken the matter further than should reasonably be expected of a pressure group, by commissioning the feasibility study, which might more properly be considered the remit of the transport authorities. However, the high-level report has been published and the results handed over to these authorities as a basis for further work.