A Fife scheme which was launched to support the long-term unemployed and spruce up places around the Kingdom has been lauded for making a difference in the Tay Bridgehead area.
Local councillors Tim Brett and Maggie Taylor have heaped praise on the Fife Community Works Programme, which was set up in 2015 to provide hundreds of people with placements on dozens of environmental projects over a two-year period.
The latest tranche of funding to support the initiative has been confirmed and among the projects benefitting is the continued efforts to carry out salt marsh planting along the Tayport coastline.
That scheme was borne out of the Tayport Coastal Feasibility Study in 2015 which identified potential long-term flood risks to Tayport as a result of sea level rise and coastal erosion, and the north-east Fife area committee agreed back in October to give £30,000 of funding to support St Andrews University’s drive in that regard.
However, a number of other local projects will benefit from the work of apprentices.
Mrs Taylor welcomed the support to plant grasses off the Tayport shore in particular, adding: “This is a very successful programme run by the University of St Andrews, which has been shown to be an effective way of stabilising the coastline and providing ‘soft’ protection.
“The funding will allow a larger area to be planted which will help to maintain the coastline at Tayport.
“In addition, we understand that the programme will be funding Tayport Community Trust’s application to further develop the Shanwell Road site for camping and caravan pitches, once the existing buildings have been demolished in the very near future.
“This will demonstrate that this much-needed project is making progress.”
Mr Brett echoed those sentiments and is looking forward to seeing some of the other projects come to fruition as part of the Community Works programme.
“One of the successful applications in our ward is to undertake maintenance work on the Nature Trail, which runs along the old railway alignment between Wormit and the Tay Road Bridge,” he commented.
“This is much appreciated by many Newport and Wormit residents but is getting muddy in a few places.
“The Community Works Programme will rectify this and should also maintain the path for several years.
“In addition, in response to requests from the local community councils, money has been agreed to install a fence and hedge to keep dogs out of the refurbished play areas at Kinbrae Park and Guardbridge.”
