Complaints.

Carnegie reads that a developer, who failed to be granted a planning application, has lodged a complaint about the conduct of a group of Fife Councillors involved in the planning decision.

Given Fife Council's record on planning matters, Carnegie wouldn't be surprised if something is amiss, but we will wait to see what the outcome of the complaint is. It is after all, not the first time that a developer who lost a planning application has lodged a complaint in advance of a later appeal.

"A HOTEL chain refused permission for a new hotel in St Andrews has lodged a complaint against five Fife councillors involved in the planning process. Crerar Hotels accused the four St Andrews ward councillors and chairman of the north-east Fife area committee Andrew Arbuckle of breaching the councillors’ code of conduct due to conflict of interest. The complaint was lodged with the Standards Commission last Friday, before Wednesday’s meeting of the committee where the decision to refuse planning permission for the 80-bedroom hotel beside Kinkell Braes caravan park was taken. The company, which is to appeal the decision, alleges neither Mr Arbuckle nor councillors Frances Melville, Dorothea Morrison, Bill Sangster and Robin Waterston should have taken part in the process, which included a departure hearing in October. It claims their involvement with various local bodies—among them St Andrews Links Trust and St Andrews Harbour Trust—constituted a serious conflict of interest."