Telephone 891330
I have no doubt that many in the town are worried at the changes they see or hear about. From them I ask for patience and understanding. There is a great deal happening in our town, a great deal in the pipeline and an even bigger mountain still to be tackled.
May will see the opening of our much awaited Water Feature. This should be in time for the arrival of our summer visitors and a great diversion for local mums also. It is impossible to miss the work on the High St and that will be with us until August. May will also see the work on the beach and the esplanade commence, which will last between 10 and 12 weeks.
Those in the Cowdenbeath Rd area will have seen the start of the Safer Routes to School take place with crossings at Aberdour Rd and Cowdenbeath Rd, a path from Glebe Place as well as a small car park at the Toll Park. Meadowfield Industrial Estate should receive an influx of jobs when the office block is reopened. Changes ahead up at Dollar Rd too when work will begin on 14 houses on the site of the old Infant school, two of these houses will be equipped for families with a member, who is a wheelchair user. Even the Burntisland Shipyard football hut is getting rebuilt thanks mainly to the hard work of their committee and a wee amount of assistance from Fife Council.
The Compulsory Purchase Order on the Palace Cinema was served on the 13 th March. The response from the owner has been to lodge plans for a retail unit and 10 flats. These plans were discussed at the April meeting of the Community Council and are now displayed at 96 High St. No one is keener than me to see the Palace Cinema developed but I must say my view of the plans submitted is that they have a long way to go before they would be acceptable to the vast majority of the town. I have advised at this stage that we proceed with the Compulsory Purchase Order.
Please be patient during the construction periods: better that we are moving forward than doing nothing.
Councillor George Kay
Telephone: 01592 872901
Councillor Ron Edwards
cllr.ron.edwards@fife.gov.uk .
Telephone 891330
When the signs went up on Friday 17 th February proclaiming Burntisland as Fife's First Fair Trade Town it was a great achievement for the town and an example for the whole of Fife to build on. Lochgelly and Saint Andrews have followed suit. The ceremony on that Friday was headed by Gordon Brown, so fitting for his hard work and commitment to Make Poverty History. The key connection between ethical trading and relieving poverty in the world is now denied by few. The ability of a family or a whole community to build their lives by their own efforts is paramount and obviously gives confidence for their future. It is much more efficient than International Aid Packages, which are perhaps most suited to disaster relief and help with infrastructure. This becomes personal, and that is what people and communities are about.
There are more and more shops and supermarkets now trading with fair-traded products, joining the traditional leaders such as the Co-op. Marks & Spencer, in a host of publicity has proclaimed its ethical credentials, with clothing as well as food, and achieved acclaim as Leading Global Retailer of Sustainable Fish. But Bruce Stuart and his Fair Shares shop in Burntisland High Street has been there in the forefront of the campaign in Fife. More than 20 businesses are now selling or using fair-traded products in the Burntisland. Fife Council has its Fair Trade Policy, which I was pleased to guide through Council, but there are hindrances, both within the Council and the Scottish Executive, which militate against quick progress. Perhaps the Executive needs to allow councils to actively promote local produce, local businesses and ethical procurement, something that "Best Value" rules seem to work against at present.
So the next step is the Fair Trade Kingdom of Fife, and to encourage everybody in the town to buy ethically.