THREE schools in Central Fife have been highlighted regarding road safety concerns. 

Cowdenbeath Councillor Darren Watt said that these schools were the ones his community was most concerned with and encouraged parents to "park responsibly" during school pick-up and drop-off times. 

He told the Times: "It’s a whole host of issues, including pick-ups and drop-offs at the usual times as well as the volume of traffic as a result.

"It’s always the catch-22 that you’ve got an increasing amount of parents and carers wanting to drop off their children at school because they fear for road safety but, as a result, they’re increasing traffic volume which exasperates the situation.  

"The three schools I have highlighted are ones that are bringing more concern and I don't think it helps that they’re on main roads as well as bus and major routes throughout the towns and villages."

The three schools of concern are Hill of Beath Primary School, Lumphinnans Primary School and Crossgates Primary School. 

And in order to address the community's worries over this, Cllr Watt feels that three groups of people involved need to be spoken to. 

He continued: "It’s a case of working alongside parents and carers as well as school staff but also the children themselves and just highlighting the concerns that they have and taking time to address them where possible.  

"Hill of Beath in particular are looking at a whole host of options to help encourage parents to park more responsibly during pick-up and drop-off times and perhaps even looking at ways they can help walking routes.  

"Whether that's encouraging children to cross at a safer point on the main street, whether that’s using barriers or bannisters or even the introduction of a crossing but these things are all being explored by the Hill of Beath Community Council so it will just be a case of seeing what comes back from transportation officers from Fife Council and seeing if there’s something that's feasible and something we can all work towards.  

"It’s just a case of parking responsibly and being considerate of not just the residential areas but also of other road users as well as pedestrians, not parking on pavements, not parking too near junctions and ultimately being aware of your overall surroundings."

Lesley Craig, Fife Council's Lead consultant for traffic management, said the team were working with local councillors to improve road safety in the area.

 "Every area has a local roads programme with projects prioritised and agreed by councillors at area committee," said the official.

"A puffin crossing with a raised table has been installed at Mossgreen, a new crossing has also been installed outside the primary school in Broad Street, and plans are in place for speed cushions in Station Road, Kelty. 

"Traffic is already limited to 20mph around all the local primary schools part-time and there are plans to expand the permanent 20mph zones in the area."