CLAIMS from a local councillor that Cowdenbeath is set to miss out on new council homes have been denied.

Alex Campbell said that the prospect of no houses being built in the area was "unacceptable" and called for a debate on the issue.

The Kelty and Cowdenbeath councillor said there was a "chronic shortage of affordable rented houses" but Fife Council said he didn't have the full picture.

Cllr Campbell said: "I was contacted by Alex Rowley MSP who had obtained through freedom of information from Fife Council that there are currently 280 new homes for social rent under construction in Fife and there are 580 units live in the planning process.

"He was asking how many of these were for the Cowdenbeath area. To my astonishment the council responded that there are none of these for this area."

Cllr Campbell continued: “Both Alex and I are regularly contacted by people desperate to get a property or by families stuck in houses that are too small and the response from the council is to tell them to widen the areas they would be willing to move to.

"This is simply not good enough and rather than moving people from their wider families and support networks, and children from their local schools, I think it would make more sense to build houses in areas like Cowdenbeath, Kelty and Lochgelly where there are large waiting lists and real housing needs."

The Labour councillor said he was seeking information on all housing lists and wants a discussion at the Cowdenbeath area committee to demand the area gets its share of new council and housing association houses.

Councillor Judy Hamilton, community and housing services convener, responded: “With our partners in the affordable housing programme 2012-2017, we delivered 2,700 affordable homes across Fife.

"We delivered 321 affordable homes in the Cowdenbeath local housing strategy area. This included 211 council houses and 91 other properties for social rent.

"We are committed to building another 3,500 affordable homes in the next phase of our ambitious programme 2017-2022.

"We project that this will include yet another 250-300 houses in the Cowdenbeath area.

"I suspect that the numbers quoted by Alex Rowley are those currently in the planning process only, and this is merely part of the affordable housing programme which runs over a five-year term."