March 17 2025

Planners have given the go-ahead for a sequence of permanent outdoor seating areas along South Street, St Andrews.

Fife Council's roads department, working with Stantec, will formalise five existing outdoor seating areas, each serving as spillover accommodation for adjacent cafes and bars.

First introduced as a temporary measure back in 2021 the pavement build-outs served to stimulate commercial activity during Covid but have since become a popular fixture of the streetscape.

Cllr Jonny Tepp, convenor of the North East Fife planning committee said: "These outdoor seating arrangements have been in place since 2021 and are very popular in the town. However, the current arrangements were always only temporary and as such they are a mix or bollards and planters marking off the areas. The decisions today, to make these build outs from the pavements permanent, mean that we can now create spaces which will look far more attractive.

"St Andrews is a beautiful town with large parts of it a conservation area. The pavement extensions will be built with Caithness stone to blend in with the surrounding areas and create a more uniform and aesthetic look."

Each application received around 20 objections, principally centred around the loss of car parking. 

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