St Andrews & East Fife Local Plan - Home Page

protection at both the broad and site specific landscape scale whenconsidering development proposals.79. The Fife Local Landscape Designation Review has been used both toidentify and designate Local Landscape Areas and can also supportthe enhancement of areas of lesser landscape and habitat quality. Thisreflects emerging national planning policy and will be a materialconsideration when assessing development proposals. Alldevelopment proposals in these areas will need to demonstrate acommitment to landscape protection and improvement, and takeaccount of the existing landscape features.80. Rural and coastal development81. Development in the countryside is an area of planning policy sittingbetween the twin aims of safeguarding Fife's rural landscape andsupporting the rural economy and communities. The Local Plan'spolicies provide a balance between these objectives by supportingdevelopment for employment and residential uses where they will helpto sustain rural communities and encourage diversification. The aim isto enhance and diversify the rural economy, provide for the creation oflocal jobs in sustainable locations, support agricultural diversification,reduce the need to travel to work, and improve access, in particular tolarger employment centres.82. New businesses and commercial leisure and housing developmentscan assist rural regeneration of communities and the services theydraw on. However, this runs contrary to conventional transport policy.Assessment must be made to inform environmental, community, andtransport considerations. The Local Plan identifies opportunities fordevelopment within the rural area which provide for local needs andsustain local services and facilities.83. Fife's coast forms part of its landscape character – its ‘fringe of gold’ –and is recognised as having an environmental and economic value.Provision is made for development that requires a coastal location andcontributes to the local economy. (The coastal zone is defined to assistdecisions on development proposals. It includes land related to andinfluenced by the coast, land up to 250 metres inland from Mean HighWater Springs; the coastal landscapes defined in the Fife LandscapeCharacter Assessment; and coastal habitats. The developed coast hasbeen defined as that within settlements with a population greater than2,000 and where there is existing large-scale development for industry,tourism and recreation outwith settlement limits.)