Fife Council: Women's Open declared national event to ease short-term let rules

Around 50,000 people are expected to visit the North East Fife town for the Women’s Open in August and on Thursday, Cabinet Committee councillors made a decision that will help all of those visitors find accommodation.

The AIG Women’s Open is one of the five most prestigious tournaments in women’s golf, and it was declared a national event this week.

The declaration made by councillors on Thursday will help make room for the number of people who are expected to visit for the tournament. It essentially allows certain properties in Fife to operate as short term lets without a licence for up to six weeks.

“It is anticipated around 50,000 people will visit St Andrews for the Women’s Open on 21-23 August 2024,” a committee report stated. “There is an anticipated increased need for short-term lets in St Andrews to accommodate these visitors on a temporary basis.”

If the cabinet had voted against loosening up the short term let licence rules, housing services warned that there “may be insufficient licensed short-term let capacity in St Andrews to address the demand” and that “visitors may be housed unlawfully.”

“There may [also] be suggestions that Fife Council is not supporting women’s sport,” the committee report continued.

Designating the Women’s Open as a national event enables the council to grant “temporary exemptions” to certain properties in the area to be operated as short term lets without a licence for up to six weeks.

It’s still necessary for property operators to make an application to benefit from the temporary exemption. There is also a fee associated with that application, but it opens the door for more visitor accommodation to be available during the busy sporting event.

Councillors asked a few questions about the specifics of the declaration and about the rules of the short term let licence scheme. However, the declaration and the exemption was ultimately passed by the committee unanimously and without argument.