THE fact that two parked cars have been written off and several vehicles damaged while parked by the side of the road in a Cowdenbeath street is causing local councillors considerable concern.

A public meeting, on Tuesday night at the Maxwell Centre, in Stenhouse Street, saw more than 30 people tell Alex Campbell, Gary Guichan and Darren Watt, of the problems they had experienced over the past few months with the lack of off street parking on the narrow carriageway and sharp bend at Farm Road.

Alec Anderson was one of them and he told the Times that he felt the public meeting had definitely seen progress made: "We basically have asked the councillors to look at the three options that were talked about to take the strain off Farm Road.

"Firstly a one-way system; secondly speak to the Housing Department to remove the nearby lock-ups and create a parking area; or remove the large rocks from the green area at Farm Road and create off street parking there.

"The number of cars, needing to be parked has increased over the years and now on an average night there may be as many as 15 vehicles at the side of the road.

"It is a narrow road with a very sharp bend and during the winter two residents saw their vehicles written off after accidents.

"So far no one has been hurt but we hope that something can be done to ensure that does not happen."

Councillor Alex Campbell has a lot of sympathy for the situation the residents face: "The strength of feeling on this issue was underlined by the number of people who turned up at the meeting.

"There clearly is a problem with the speed of cars using Farm Road and with the number of vehicles parked at the site of the road that has combined to lead to several accidents.

"I feel that the three proposals can come up with an answer for the Farm Road residents."

Gary Guichan said: "I agree totally with the residents. The turn is really dangerous, I have driven round there and had to brake sharply due to someone coming round the other way.

"Two or three years ago I took up the case brought to me by two separate local residents but was met with the line that there was no money in the budget for such work. I also understand that Tom Dair and Alex Maxwell also tried to get the road widened years ago.

"Hopefully the joint action by the residents will add to pressure from councillors to enable officers to find money.

"Many residents approach us about needing extra parking and budget constraints do mean that we couldn't possibly satisfy all of them, but this area has the added problem of real danger, so I hope the money can be found".

Added Darren Watt: "It was a very positive public meeting at the Maxwell Centre.

"Clearly residents were frustrated after being ignored for years regarding ongoing parking issues, however, I cannot thank them enough for taking time out of their lives to attend this meeting and talk with us openly and constructively".

He added: "Although on-street parking is a major issue throughout Cowdenbeath and the surrounding villages, the residents of Farm Road and Hillview have experienced consistent damage to their vehicles throughout the years.

"And we're not just talking about a wing mirror being knocked or a door being scratched. In some cases, repair bills have ran into the thousands of pounds and some cars have been written off altogether! "Fortunately, this area is quite unique as there are pockets of underutilised land and wide pavements so at least we have many options we can explore with transport officers such as lay-bys, a one-way system or even creating a car park near the garages". He concluded: "Discussions are now taking place between Council officers, and I for one will ensure residents are consulted and communicated with throughout the process".