A MAIN route through Cowdenbeath will be dug up by Fife Council to try and discover what's causing frequent flooding.

Parts of Foulford Road have repeatedly been left under water and fed up residents have demanded action.

The local authority will start "excavating" the road next week as part of their continuing investigations with temporary traffic lights in place while the work goes on.

Service manager Martin Kingham explained: "Road closures caused by the flooding of Foulford Road have recently become more frequent, and we have to continue the investigations we started before Christmas to get this issue sorted."

Those closures have caused disruption for residents while blocked culverts have hampered attempts by the council to investigate the cause of the flooding.

Mr Kingham said: "The flooding is the result of the condition of an old culvert beneath the road, which carries a watercourse through the Glen Tavern’s car park before it issues into the Kirkford Burn next to 1 Foulford Road.

“We know the old sandstone culvert is partially blocked in a couple of places and that’s what prevented us completing our camera survey in December.

"Next week (from Monday) we’ll be excavating near these points so we can complete the survey, identify the cause of the flooding and we’ll also fix what we can while we’re there.

"We’ll have temporary traffic signals in place for at least a week.

“If we find any obstructions in the culvert where it passes through private properties, we will work with the owners to help resolve the problem."

He continued: “We have also asked Scottish Water to check the condition of combined sewer that the road drainage system flows into.

“We share the concern about the impact that these floods and road closures are having on local residents and businesses and reassure people that we will do all we can to resolve the problem quickly.

"In the meantime we apologise for any inconvenience these roadworks might cause and thank everyone for their patience."