THE community activists looking to get the village of Glencraig's historic boundaries restored have received a major boost in their efforts.

The Benarty Boundaries Group were worried that the history of the former large pit village would be lost if the boundaries described to Cowdenbeath Area Committee earlier this year were maintained.

Lying between Lochgelly and Crosshill the community grew up as Glencraig Colliery became one of the biggest employers in the Central Fife area and had a population of almost 2,000.

The Boundaries Group was set up after information came to light that Glencraig's historic boundaries had been removed and that the old part of the village, which had been demolished more than 40 years ago, had been included in Lochgelly Community Council's remit.

Two of the Boundaries Group, Willie Clarke and Brian Menzies, were at Fife House in August to hand over the petition to Linda Bissett, the returning officer for Fife Council.

The petition saw a number of parties on Fife Council take an interest in the Boundaries Group's quest and last week the Communities and Housing Committee decided to back an amendment asking officials to look speedily at the issue.

Said Willie, the former chairman of Cowdenbeath Area Committee: "Our petition asked Fife Council to change the boundaries between Benarty Community Council and Lochgelly Community Council so the whole village of Glencraig is within the boundaries of Benarty CC as it should be.

"Government laws state that ties of community, history and heritage should be part of drawing up boundaries and for Fife Council to cut a village in half severs these ties and goes against legislation".

The situation was that the council's official position had the Glencraig boundary well to the north of Lochgelly High School which the Group feels is historically wrong.

The committee had before it a proposal by chair, Councillor Judy Hamilton, that any decision on the boundary wait until a review in 2019, but an amendment moved by Councillor Linda Holt asking for a swift investigation into the issue, won the vote.

Said Brian Menzies: "This is good news for us and we are delighted that the committee sees where our point of view is coming from."

Former councillor, Willie Clarke, said: "We had asked Cowdenbeath Area Committee to undertake this but the councillors did not seem to realise the urgency of the issue.

"Hopefully the investigation which is being implemented will find the key information."

He added: "The fact is that maps do not make boundaries, communities make boundaries."