COUNCILLORS are backing villagers in Hill of Beath in their bid to have the speed of traffic passing their homes reduced.

The people of Tavern Cottages, on the B981 between Cowdenbeath and Crossgates, have been campaigning to have the speed of cars, lorries and buses reduced as they struggle to drive on to the main road from their homes.

A public meeting in June saw a packed hall implore local councillor, Peter Lockhart, to find some way of dealing with the problem ‘before someone was killed’ on the busy stretch. And on Wednesday the Cowdenbeath councillor persuaded the Area Committee to back a motion he put together to try and tackle the problem.

It read, ‘Cowdenbeath Area Committee supports the residents of Tavern Cottages, Hill of Beath, in their appeal for action to be taken to reduce the speed of traffic on the B981 passing the Cottages.

‘We note the discussions that have taken place between the Police and Fife Council, and the Transportation Service and support the call for action including: The installation of speed monitoring signs, An increase in speed detection presence by Police Scotland, A reduction in speed to 40mph on the B981 between Cowdenbeath and Tavern Cottages, A reduction in speed from the current 40mph to 30mph from Tavern Cottages to Crossgates, We also urge traffic calming measures at the area surrounding Tavern Cottages to be looked at in an effort to reduce speeding traffic, The Area Committee also agrees to support the local community in launching a speed awareness campaign to alert the wider community in the need to slow down and drive carefully when driving past Tavern Cottages and the wider Hill of Beath area.’ Councillor Lockhart told Wednesday’s Area Committee meeting that the stretch of the road was very busy with many vehicles using it going past the row of cottages at 60mph or more. “The flow of traffic along the road between Crossgates and Cowdenbeath is heavy and some vehicles exceed the speed limit which is of real concern to the Tavern Cottages residents,” he said.

“I would like to see the speed limit on the stretch from Cowdenbeath to the Cottages reduced from 60 to 40 and then from there to Crossgates set at 30 and any other traffic claming ideas the transportation department can come up with would be welcomed.

“There is a very strong strength of feeling amongst those involved, which saw a packed public meeting, and they are concerned that someone could be seriously injured in an accident unless something is done.” Lochgelly and Cardenden member, Ian Chisholm, seconded the motion, and said that the residents’ concerns are justified as the volume of traffic on the stretch is considerable and he added, “We seem to get responses from Transportation about issues such as this which do not seem to take on board the seriousness of the situation.

“We need more policy decisions taken by councillors on issues such as this to reflect the public concern that exists.” Fellow Lochgelly and Cardenden member, Linda Erskine, said, “I have gone along this stretch to see what the level of traffic and speeds are like and I saw a lot of vehicles going to fast so there is a problem which needs to be adddressed and I believe we should unanimously back the motion.” After the decision was taken to support councillor Lockhart’s motion committee chairman, Councillor Willie Clarke, said that a representative of Transportation was going to attend the October meeting of the committee to give views on the issue.