Transport Plans For West Fife

Councillors call for council to progress transport hubs.

Two SNP councillors, Kate Stewart and Douglas Chapman, have asked Fife Council to make more  progress on improving transport hubs in West Fife. The call came before a meeting with the Council Leader, David Ross, who has now promised to look into further work being done in relation to a Halbeath Rail station, a new Park and Choose facility in Rosyth and a rail station for Kincardine.

Cllr Douglas Chapman said:

"The call for a railway station at Halbeath was made earlier in the month and we soon realised that Fife Council had more work to do to help prepare a case and identify funding from council sources to kick start the project. This would be on the same basis that Fife Council has put aside £2m of capital funds to support a Levenmouth rail link. We believe that only by the Council putting their hand in their pocket will a rail station at Halbeath be a feasible project and that's the message we’ve given to the Council Leader."

Cllr Kate Stewart, who represents West Fife Villages, and has been working closely with Kincardine 

Community Futures said:

"In addition to Halbeath, we are currently discussing with Kincardine Community Futures Group their action plan for the town. That plan, which has been drawn up though a great deal of community involvement, outlines the desire to see a railway station served by the Alloa/Stirling line as part of improved public transport links for the area. The community 
is strongly behind the idea, but like everything else when money is tight, we need to prepare an equally strong and well thought out case. Again we have asked Fife Council to assist with a feasibility study to allow the community to take the idea to the next stage and see what capital monies Fife Council could put towards the wishes of the community."

The third transport project in the SNP's sights is the development of the planned Park and Ride at Rosyth. 

Cllr Chapman said:

"During our meeting with the Council Leader, he was open to looking at another way of delivering this project which would involve a change in the local plan. We believe that part, if not all, of the Rosyth Park and Ride could be funded from private sources if other developments around Rosyth and Pitreavie were allowed to flourish. That means a different approach by the Council's planners, but if we could get a 'win-win' by having a major transport hub delivered, at little or no cost to the public purse, then surely that is worth considering?

"With all three transport hub projects, we are grateful to David Ross for taking the time to listen and we hope that he follows up on each one to make sure that the Council do their homework on the feasibility of each project and that the Council can find capital funding to allow these projects to have a fighting chance of being delivered."