LOCHGELLY Community Council are demanding answers about the delays to the town's new health centre.

The lack of progress dominated discussions at their recent meeting and they're now looking for politicians to press the case.

Stevie Murray, the community council secretary, said they had made "numerous attempts to get some clarity" from Shona Robison, the Scottish Government cabinet secretary for health and sport.

He said they had finally got a response and added: “The substance of the response shed absolutely no light on the reasons for the delay.

"Yet again we are told that they understand the need for a replacement facility and understand its importance.

"Then we are told that there are ‘refinements’ needed to the NHS Fife submission.

"There was no indication of what these are or is how they will affect the project development.”

The campaign for a bigger and better health centre has been running for years, amid concerns that it cannot cope with the needs of the growing community and the Francis Street site, which was cleared of housing some years ago, was chosen.

And with more houses due to be built in the area, more people will be looking to register with and use GP services in the town.

Mr Murray said: “The delay in responding to our enquiries may not influence the length of time that the project will take to commence and conclude.

"However, the lack of detail from the Minister in their response only serves to add to our frustration and fuels those with the opinion that this is an intentional delay.

"We sincerely hope that this is wrong but call upon our local MSPs to publicly intervene and get this project back on track.”

Asked by the Times for a response, a Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We are providing record funding for the NHS across Scotland, and want to ensure that patients across Fife and the rest of the country have access to the very best facilities.

"We are currently waiting to receive a revised business case for a new Lochgelly health centre from NHS Fife.”