THE Meedies Advisory Panel is praising the Benarty public for their patience and promises to hold another meeting this month to update people on how the new Lochore Meadows Country Park visitor centre issue is progressing.

The panel is waiting to find out how Fife Council plan to deal with the loss of the park's factors, the Fife Coast and Countryside Trust and what will happen in terms of a new visitor centre.

MAP chairperson, Lorna Bett said this week: "We’d like to thank the community for their patience and understanding since the second public meeting on December 5 when the 200+ people present voted by a decisive majority to reject the current proposal for a new visitor centre at the Meedies.

"We are sorry the community has been kept in the dark for so long about Fife Council’s plans for the visitor centre, but we have been in the same position.

"Six of us met Cllr David Ross together with Cllr Mark Hood and Raymond Johnston, Fife Council’s Property Services service manager on Tuesday December 20 and Mr Ross told us the Council were now considering four options as a result of the public vote, but these did not require public consultation: Option 1: visitor centre on hold & retender golf building. Cost £50k in redesign fees. Option 2: retain existing visitor centre. Cost £150k. Option 3: go ahead with golf building without retendering so as to keep the Sport Scotland grant of £83k Option 4: refurbish the golf building

"Raymond Johnston offered to explore making further cosmetic changes to the proposed visitor centre such as more windows.

"We maintained the position the community voted for in the second public meeting, namely that the current plans for a new visitor centre be dropped, the old visitor centre be re-opened and the whole process of designing and funding a new visitor centre start again with the community on board while the sports pavilion goes ahead as a separate development".

In terms of a way forward, Cllr Ross said Fife Council would not attend any further public meetings. He also refused to hold public consultation meetings in Kelty and Lochgelly to allow the communities in these areas to discuss the proposals as Benarty had done in their 3-week consultation period in November.

Pressed on what Fife Council was going to do, Cllr Ross he was “minded to go ahead” with the new centre as planned regardless of public feeling, but this was only “his opinion” and the issue has to go in front of the Executive at Fife Council.

Concluded Lorna: "The Benarty Community Forum and the Lochore Meadows Panel are extremely disappointed that Fife Council has still not agreed to drop current plans for a new visitor centre despite a clear lack of support from community councils, the Lochore Meadows Advisory Panel and the larger Benarty community. We plan to hold another public meeting to discuss the community’s options."