COWDENBEATH is changing fast and the current upgrade of the south end of High Street should be completed within the next couple of months.

The project, totalling an investment of £1.5 in the former mining town, has seen heritage very much top of the agenda and this is going to see more murals like the striking creation which dominates Brunton Square.

Fife Council has been working in partnership with the High Street businesses, Cowdenbeath Community Council and staff and pupils at Beath High School, as the project has developed.

Andrew Walker of the council's Town Centre Development Unit, who has been help steer the project said this week that the work was reaching the final stages.

Meanwhile the work on creating two stores on the site of North End Park is at the construction stage and work is expected to start into creating the entrance into the new business park within a couple of months.

The town centre improvement project, which came from initial SUSTRANS funding and has seen other injections of money as things have progressed, has seen the former Green Square near the railway bridge, turned into a large Civic Square feature geared to housing outdoor events with brand new paving, floral features and a grassed area; and Brunton Square is being set up as a heritage zone with the giant mural as a centre feature and the town's mining history recalled.

There will also be a large mural on the south facing wall at the Civic Square plus smaller murals at the Leisure Centre, the library and the Mooreland Travel building, all done by artist Kerry Wilson, who created the massive mural of the miner's boy at Brunton Square.

The final work will include cycle racks, benches and planters which will be situated in Pit Road, Hall Street and the Squares plus the Town Crest will go up along with silhouettes of mining scenes.

Andrew Walker said: "We are in the final stages of the improvement project but there is a lot to come.

"We are working with both the community council and Beath High and we hope that we will see a lot of good things happening over the coming weeks and months.

"Hopefully the traffic lights will be removed from the south end of High Street soon and the works completed on Pit Road and Hall Street while Kerry Wilson will be working on the murals.

"The High School rector, pupils and staff have been very keen to engage in the project and hopefully they will be very much part of what is happening to promote the town in the coming months.

"Hopefully the Civic Square will be the scene of some events involving the school during the summer."

Andrew added: "Working with the business community a number have taken up the opportunity to get shop front's improved and we hope also run computer and social media courses to give them extra opportunities to get their message across in promoting what they have to offer.

"The plan has been all about making the town more attractive and hopefully we will get people to enjoy the facilities and use the shops."