THE staff, children and parents at Sunflower Family Nurture Centre, in Lochgelly, have been working hard over the last few months to develop their Travel Plan to ensure a safe way to access the Melgund Place facility.

They have worked closely with Robyn Steven, Travel Plan Co-ordinator with Fife Council, to gather views and the evidence required to help move forward and plan next steps with Melgund Place and nearby David Street very busy through the Health Centre and Lochgelly Centre.

Robyn has been delighted with the progress made thus far and said: “Sunflower Nursery are working hard to develop their School Travel Plan and the launch of the new Park 'n' Walk method is a big step forward in tackling the congestion at the school gate.

"It has been great to see this Early Years setting so engaged with developing the plan and starting initiatives to achieve behaviour change.”

The congestion at morning and afternoon times near the family Nurture Centre Park has been a problem and the Park 'n' Walk scheme has alredy made a difference.

The Park ‘n’ Walk initiative was launched last week. Parents are being encouraged to park at the Lochgelly Centre and walk round the corner to the Sunflower. As well as this, double yellow lines have been extended to discourage unsafe parking.

Morag Steele, headteacher said: "We are delighted with the number of families who are working with us in our drive towards making Melgund Place a safer place for our children.

"Safety must be our priority and we would encourage all families to use the Park ‘n’ Walk and discourage anyone from parking on double yellow or zig zag lines.

"Our children have been doing a fabulous job of carrying out surveys in the street and identifying what the key issues are. It is everyone’s responsibility to keep our children safe at drop off and pick up times".

The local community and families of Sunflower Family Nurture Centre have reacted positively to the new initiative, and one parent commented: “I’ve been parking at the doctor’s and walking down.

"I think it will ease congestion out the front."

Neighbours of the centre have also been encouraged by the initiative and feel that it will be a move in the right direction to keeping all children safe.