THE new year is upon us and we will all be looking ahead to 2020.

As ever there will be a whole lot of resolutions being passed by people as we move into the year and it is a big one for the Cowdenbeath-Lochgelly area.

If SEPA get their way, certainly the improvements that take place at the Fife Ethylene Plant should consign the days of unplanned flaring to the history books.

ExxonMobil have already indicated their desire to see things get a whole lot better by their £140m upgrade at the FEP and Shell too are committed to making more improvements at the NGL plant, so hopefully these works will make a massive difference.

2020 will be a huge year for the Mossmorran complex but also a big one for Lochore Meadows Country Park.

The project to create the state of the art inclusive playpark at the Meedies will move on and this will further add to the park's attractiveness to families from all over Scotland and the northern part of England.

Also we have the Save the Cage campaign group's bid to create a mining heritage site at the Mary Colliery pithead, something which will also bring people to the park.

The enthusiasm of the Scottish Mining Museum, to help make this happen, allied to the park management's support, give further hope that 2020 will be a big year for this project.

Having an organisation like the SMM aboard will be so advantageous and the Save the Cage campaigners must see a lot of light at the top of the pit shaft now!

In Cowdenbeath 2020 could also be the year that the eyesore that is the Crown Hotel on Cowdenbeath High Street could disappear as continued efforts to persuade the owner of the property, that with the new retail park about to be fully up and running, it is surely time to get this once proud building sorted after more than a decade of it being derelict.

And in Lochgelly the RockGelly climbing centre project should make a lot of progress too.

So this is a big year and hopefully all these situations will come to pass.