Homes For All?

Great news for Inverkeithing, but there is still a long way to go to provide all of the modern council homes that are needed to meet public demand across Fife.

"FIFE Council has now taken the first steps towards providing new Council housing. The first new council house provision in decades will be targetted first at areas of most need, including Dunfermline, Inverkeithing and the West Fife villages."

School For Sale.

Got a spare half a million to spend? Fancy your own school?

"FLUSH with success after flogging off old public toilets at auction, Fife Council is now selling a school to the highest bidder. Unfortunately it’s not in Dunfermline’s eastern expansion and won’t solve the ‘third school’ problem – but it could pour £500,000 into council coffers. Parts of the old Inverkeithing Primary School, off Roods Road, are over 130-years-old but it could be converted into flats after going under the hammer in Glasgow this Wednesday."

Right Path.

So, good news for Fife's cyclists with a part of the Fife cycle path between Dalgety Bay being upgraded.

"ACCESS TO Fife’s coastal areas has become even better with the opening of the upgraded cycle route from St David’s Bay to Inverkeithing. The £155,000 project consisted of widening, surfacing and lighting an existing track to make it more attractive to users. The route is now more open."

Mr Carnegie says "on yer bike".

£1 a day.

Carnegie reads that Fife Council is to consider extending car parking charges in Inverkeithing and Dunfermline aimed at rail commuters at a minimum cost of £1 a day, three times that for other users.

Sounds very simple doesn't it. The problem is that it probably won't work, especially if people aren't used to paying any charges at the moment. It will lead to more people parking in residential streets, or indeed even perhaps trying to park their cars at other stations not covered by the parking charges, e.g. in Dalgety Bay or Aberdour.

The fundamental problem is that there isn't enough car parking provision near the the stations that are becoming increasingly busy. Fife Council should be trying to sort that out. After all, you shouldn't encourage people to use public transport and not put in place the facilities to allow them to do it.

The real irony is that over ten million pounds has been spend on the 1040 parking space "park and ride" facility at Ferrytoll near Inverkeithing for bus services, which is regularly running 30% empty (you can see it from the train). Perhaps we should be encouraging people to take the bus?