WHILE the warm summer was welcomed by people throughout the area it did nothing for the wildflower areas planted by the Cowdenbeath Area streets and parks team.

Over the past two years some 40 wildflower areas have been planted out in different parts of the Cowdenbeath-Lochgelly area.

But the very dry weather saw most of the sites not come up as in previous summers.

Colin Davidson, of the Area Parks and Streets team said: "The wildflower sites really suffered from the lack of moisture as we went many weeks without rain.

"The sites did not look nearly as colourful as in past years and it certainly showed the difference that regular rain fall makes to these."

Vice chair, councillor Rosemary Liewald said: "The wildflower sites have been quite striking but certainly the very dry summer weather, especially in May, June and July, seemed to have an effect on our displays in the Cardenden and Benarty areas.

"When more wet weather arrived in August it certainly seemed to see more colour come through."

Kelty and Cowdenbeath member Alex Campbell praised the work of the Parks and Open Spaces team in the Cowdenbeath-Lochgelly area: "There has been a lot of re-structuring of the team but they have been able to carry our their tasks well and Colin always acts swiftly when asked about issues.

"It cannot be easy with the numbers currently available but they get on well with what they have to do."

Councillor Mary Lockhart said that there had been a few problems having emerged in Benarty, one of which involved a new wall being built at The Shank and loose materials being left.

She added: "Often when contractors have been involved in a project they do not clean up properly which often causes problems and it is something we need to watch out for."

Chair Councillor Linda Erskine said that she said that a major issue she felt was the council team having to tackle problems on private ground: "We do not really want to see our limited team having to tackle problems on land that is not council property and that is something we need to sort out."