FIFE Council is welcoming confirmation from the Scottish Government that lockdown measures will gradually ease over the next few weeks, and is reassuring the people of the Cowdenbeath-Lochgelly area that public services will follow the same phased approach.

The council Chief Executive, Steve Grimmond, thanked Fifers for their patience and explained that, as services resume gradually, it must always be in line with public health advice and the safety of council staff and the wider public will be the top priority.

He commented: "Our plan will be to follow the same type of phased approach as outlined by the Scottish Government earlier this week.

"We're already seeing a few services get back up and running but we have to be extremely careful about how and when we do this.

"The response from the public so far, and the support received has been amazing - it's important that we stick together now, and get through this recovery phase without jeopardising all the good work that's gone on before."

Some recycling centres will open up next week using a booking system to help stop over crowding and potential traffic issues.

Plans are underway to prepare for children going back to school in August and some leisure activities, including golf, see restrictions eased this week.

The council is also starting some roads and street lighting maintenance and inspection from Monday June 1, as well as planning for some critical construction works to restart.

Added Steve: "Many of our services will continue to be available online and remotely over the coming weeks and months.

"The majority of our buildings will remain closed as we work out new ways of working safely - so please don't try to come back to any of our facilities until we issue updates about individual services. We will let you know as and when things change and thanks once again to everyone for the fantastic response from our communities."