FIFE Council has vowed to tackle flooding and potholes over the next decade as it set out its capital spending plans.

The council’s strategies come as a much-needed aid after many communities were left facing the devastating effects of recent floods.

In Ballingry, an elderly mother was left distressed after her home was threatened by the floodwaters. This followed after a cemetery in Benarty was flooded so much that graves became submerged and wreaths were drifting away in the water.

The council was also called out over the state of Fife roads with MSP Alex Rowley calling some carriageways a “disgrace” and claimed that a “dangerous” pothole had still not been filled in after two weeks of reporting it.

New plans to address these concerns have now been set out by the council, ss well as planned expenditure on new schools, care homes, community facilities, environment and infrastructure, the council plans to commit additional funding to five key projects.

In total, £5.45m will be spent on addressing flood issues and another £2m on roads.

Co-leaders of the council, David Alexander and David Ross said: “The council already has an ambitious capital programme to maintain and improve our assets, including new schools to support Fife’s growing population, new care homes and council housing.

“Capital funding is tight, but we have the opportunity to put additional investment into some key projects over the next couple of years.

“We have all seen the increasing impact of flooding in many of our communities over the past few months. "Although we rely on the Scottish Government for the bulk of funding to address flooding, we are proposing to commit an additional £5.45m to tackle this problem.

“We are also determined to maintain and improve Fife’s roads and we propose to accelerate our roads programme by increasing expenditure on roads by £2m in each of the next two years.

“As well as these major projects we will also be investing in some of our most important community facilities.

“We also have the opportunity to spend another £5.65m on one-off priorities over the next two years. Improving our infrastructure for the benefit of our residents and visitors is a key priority for us and we will invest this money where it's needed most.

“These are our initial proposals but we hope it may still be possible to identify funding for some further new projects but this is partly reliant on further funding becoming available through the Scottish Government’s budget.”

The council will make final budget decisions on March 11, 2021. Decisions on council tax and rent will be made on February 25, 2021.