A SUM of £50,000 for a new car park to "alleviate congestion" at Hill of Beath Primary School may no longer be needed after locals put the brakes on the idea.

The money was allocated in March 2023 from Fife Council's community recovery fund but the result of a consultation in the village was not in favour of the proposal.

A report to the Cowdenbeath area committee said the £50,000 was awarded for the creation of a car park behind the school to "alleviate the excessive traffic at the front of the school at peak periods".

Cllr Bailey-Lee Robb said: "It's my understanding the consultation has ended and the car park was not supported, despite repeated asks of the community council over the past few years for additional parking?"

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In August 2022 the council put £10m into a community recovery fund to help Fifers recover from the pandemic and try to cope with the cost of living crisis.

Money was allocated to each of the seven area committees and Cowdenbeath's share was just under £1.3m.

Central Fife Times: The aim was to alleviate congestion and parking problems outside Hill of Beath Primary School.The aim was to alleviate congestion and parking problems outside Hill of Beath Primary School. (Image: Google Maps)

Last March those funds were handed out to 15 projects and an update was given to councillors at the meeting.

At Wednesday's meeting, committee convener Alex Campbell confirmed that local residents had rejected the proposal and the money had not been spent.

He continued: "Cllr Alie Bain and I attended the Hill of Beath community council meeting yesterday evening and the survey results were discussed.

"The outcome is the community council is going to take away the results and come back in a month's time with some follow-ups and requests with recommendations we can take back to officers to see if they can be delivered."

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A report to the committee explained: "Initial investigations focused on land at Dalbeath Gardens to determine whether there was an identified need for a car park to alleviate congestion at the school at peak periods.

"This was followed up by more in depth discussion with the relevant council services which concluded that there didn’t appear to be a significant issue with parking at the school.

"An alternative site was then identified at Torbeith Gardens and to ensure community engagement was undertaken, officers from area communities and the housing team worked in partnership to deliver a survey which ran from February 19 until March 10 which included a consultation exercise with the local primary school children."