CARDENDEN residents gave their Community Action Plan an enthusiastic send off at its launch meeting last Tuesday.

The Coalfields Regeneration Trust and the Electoral Reform Society joined forces to run the Reclaiming Our Coalfield Communities initiative, covering Cardenden, Auchterderran, Bowhill and Dundonald.

The CRT put up a £20,000 participatory budget to help launch key projects, and Fife Council’s Cowdenbeath Area Committee contributed a further £10,000 to the budget.

The plan was thrashed out over the course of two intense well attended workshop sessions, which identified five key themes and priorities.

These were: Building Space and the Environment, Infrastructure and Local Services, Community Safety and Security, Activities and Events and Economy and Poverty.

Community Engagement Officer Lorna Bett said: “The Action Plan covers a huge range of issues from purely local ones, to serious social issues, like improving the transport structure and lobbying the Scottish Government on the lack of doctors and waiting times.

“I was particularly pleased to see the plan highlights positive steps to support young people, from tots who will benefit from Cardenden Playpark Group’s plan to restore the Carden Avenue Playpark, to local teenagers who will benefit from a local shelter to give them a place of their own regardless of the weather and a local youth forum”.

Other proposals include encouraging acts of random kindness to build on the already strong community spirit, improvements to the path network, improving mobility access, a neighbourhood watch scheme, organising Christmas events, and harnessing strong community spirit to alleviate poverty.

Pauline Grandison, the CRT’s Programme Manager, said: “A huge amount of thought and hard work has gone into this exercise and that is reflected in the quality and depth of the Action Plan.

“The community owes Lorna Bett, and the dozens of volunteers who took part, a huge vote of thanks.”