ONE of Alex Rowley's last acts as leader of Fife Council was to secure Council funding for a major push at the Meedies.

In November 2013 he called it "one of the best outdoor facilities in the country" which "with a bit of vision and drive we can take the development to the next level". He was explicit about the importance of involving local groups in the development.

Now Fife Coast & Countryside Trust (FCCT) has washed its hands of the Meedies after the local community decisively rejected the new visitor centre proposed by Fife Council. It has been decried as too small, too ugly and too expensive for what it is amid angry complaints that community councils, local groups and the Lochore Meadows Advisory Group were left out of the development process.

Fife Labour and the Labour administration appear paralysed over the issue. Four local Labour councillors, Cllrs Guichan, Erskine, Lockhart and Bain Lockhart, are keeping their heads down. Cllrs Hood and Campbell have half-heartedly tried to push the current discredited proposal for a replacement against the wishes of the local communities with the usual mixture of carrots, sticks and side-swipes at the Scottish Government.

The sticks and carrots proved no more impressive when they came from Mr Rowley’s successor as leader of Fife Council. In a reluctant meeting with community representatives, Cllr Ross ruled out any further meetings or consultation between the Council and the neighbouring communities. Everyone is now waiting on Fife Council’s Executive Committee meeting on January 24, which may or may not get to determine a way forward.

In the meantime the existing centre may have won a reprieve from demolition for the moment, but it has been left to rot and no one knows what facilities, if any, will be available for visitors come the spring.

At the same time questions are being asked about the money that has been poured into the Meedies since the FCCT took over.

Alex Rowley's last budget in 2014 gave the Meedies an extra £120,000 per year on top of its annual £400,000 to £500,000, to fund a steady flow of improvements and better staffing as well as getting the new visitor centre project off the ground. The whereabouts of the much-promised million for the visitor centre remains murky.

To date, Mr Rowley has made no public statement at all about the situation at the Meedies. The visitor centre and its environs look tatty and forlorn, a sad indictment of how FCCT and Fife Council have neglected to realise Mr Rowley’s wishes in 2013 for “vision and drive” and the involvement of local groups.

Mr Rowley enjoyed huge support from Willie Clarke which helped him rise through the ranks remarkably quickly to become leader of Fife Council before being elected as an MSP. Willie Clarke has always championed the Meedies, which is why the new visitor centre was going to be named after him.

The extra funding Mr Rowley secured before leaving Fife Council was surely intended to signal his gratitude to Willie Clarke for his support over the years as well as laying down his own legacy in the area. Willie Clarke made a striking intervention at the second public meeting about the Meedies crisis in Benarty in December when he pledged his support for the community’s ambition and vision for the park.

Mr Rowley may have his hands full as Deputy Leader of Scottish Labour, but his leadership is urgently needed by the park and communities on his own doorstep. Not only is one of Fife’s best-used and best-loved visitor attractions crying out for his attention, but a huge question mark now hangs over the Meedies legacy of both Alex Rowley and Willie Clarke.

LINDA HOLT,

Dreel House,

Pittenweem.