THERE are plans to spend £20,000 on the “dark, depressing and dirty” hang-out for teenagers in Dunfermline town centre. 

Councillors say the Glen Bridge underpass has become a no-go area apart from youngsters using it as a drinking den and rubbish tip. 

Fife Council wants to transform the area, just yards from St Margaret’s Cave, and tackle the trouble with an initial outlay of cash. 

Dunfermline Central councillor Neale Hanvey said: “We were told by the police that the youths they’re chasing around the town, the ones hanging around Tesco and causing problems, have been using it as a bolthole to disappear into. 

“Before one of the committee meetings, I went down there for a look. Someone had set fire to a bin so plastic was melted to the ground, the barrier to stop people falling in the burn was completely broken and there were shopping trolleys, discarded bottles, graffiti and rubbish everywhere. 

“And that’s in our town centre. People on coach tours, stopping at St Margaret’s Cave and then looking down there, must think: ‘What a mess this place is’.”

“It’s right in the heart of our town and it’s just not good enough.”

The councillor, who said a major engineering problem in the area also needs to be tackled, added: “It’s a dark, depressing and dirty mess and we should make more of the Glen Bridge. 

“It could be an attractive feature if it was well-lit. In a perfect world, you could have a very nice coffee stand with a few tables and chairs that would help increase tourism and be a nice place to have a break, with the protection of the bridge if it rained. 

“But there’s no way anyone would go down there just now.” 

The joint project with the police will aim to tackle town centre disorder through educating youngsters on the dangers of alcohol abuse. 

As well as £20,000 to improve the area under the Glen Bridge, a further £10,000 will go on diversionary programmes for youngsters, such as twilight football and basketball. 

Councillor Helen Law, the chair of the City of Dunfermline area committee, said: “The underpass area they’re using needs cleaned up and repaired to make it a walk-through, to make it less attractive as a hang-out and take away the junkyard look. 

“It should be a nice area. 

“Councillor Bobby Clelland and I went out in the town centre with the police. They were keeping an eye on the large groups of young folk gathering around Tesco and the bus station and trying to find a solution to the anti-social behaviour.”

The committee discussed the issue yesterday (Wednesday) and Cllr Hanvey said there was another, more complex, problem under the bridge. 

He said: “While the allocation of that money is welcome, there’s a fundamental problem with a cavity under the footpath and some serious engineering work is needed. 

“We’ve asked them how it can be repaired as that has to be done before we think of doing anything else. 

“If there was a very real concern that it would collapse, they would have closed it. But they do want to reinforce and strengthen it.”