Fife Council approve plans for path and footbridge

Forestry and Land Scotland have received planning permission from Fife Council for the work which will provide a link from Bickramside Farm, north-east of Blairhall, to Kinneddar Mains Farm.

Saline and Steelend Community Development Trust successfully applied for £10,000 from Fife Environment Trust towards the cost of the project on the Muirside Estate, which will be carried out by the volunteers from the West Fife Woodlands group.

Volunteers from the West Fife Woodlands group will be involved in the project to create the new footpath and the bridge over the Bluther Burn. (Image: West Fife Woodlands)

And once the bridge is in place – work is due to start this month – the group hope funding can be secured to allow them to build a new network of paths, connecting Blairhall, Oakley and Saline through Comrie Colliery, and joining to the existing walking routes.

Ronnie Collins, from the West Fife Woodlands, said: "The potential for outdoor access in West Fife will be huge.

"It will connect the whole path network in West Fife for walkers and cyclists and although certain areas are quite difficult, the vast majority of it will be suitable for disabled access too.

"It will be of enormous benefit to everyone."

The footbridge will extend 9.2 metres in length over the Bluther Burn, it will be 1.7m in height with 1.1m of this being the height of the balustrade.

The deck will be constructed with oak planks with the balustrade made of larch heartwood.

Fife Council said the plans will improve access to the countryside and pave the way for further "enhancements", including a multi-use path route.

Formed in 2007, the West Fife Woodlands volunteers aim to restore, revive and protect our great outdoors.

Provost of Fife Jim Leishman joins the volunteers at the opening of the West Fife Woodlands Way in 2018. (Image: Public)

They've been hard at work to connect most of the path network in West Fife, linking an entirely off-road series of routes that are suitable for walkers, cyclists, horses and pushchairs.

In October 2018 Fife Provost Jim Leishman officially opened the West Fife Woodlands Way, a 10-mile marked route that starts and ends in Culross, taking in Valleyfield Woods, the red squirrels of Balgownie Wood and Devilla Forest.

It also passes the 'plague grave' – which dates back to 1645 when three children from the same Culross family died from the plague – and the West Kirk, which is used as the Black Kirk in the hit TV show Outlander, and offers great views of the Ochil Hills.

The West Fife Woodlands volunteers built the paths, handmade all the signs, planted a new orchard, installed benches along the route and designed and printed the wayfinding maps.

Ronnie, who has been praised for his work with the group, said: "That took about four years and £100,000 and this new network, connecting Saline, Oakley and Blairhall through the old Comrie Colliery, will cost roughly the same.

"That seems a lot but it is achievable and will open up the whole of West Fife.

"It's a huge project and will probably have to be done in stages but we're a voluntary group and we'll do most of the work ourselves. That will help keep costs down.

"The paths will be done to a very high standard and once we get the bridge over the burn that will let us progress, it's the biggest stumbling block."

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The volunteers' work has already helped to link Valleyfield Woods to the Alloa to Dunfermline cycle path, with direct access to Devilla Forest, Culross and Kincardine.

The group hope the new path networks will connect to the Fife Pilgrims Way that runs from Culross through to Dunfermline and beyond, as well as the Fife Coastal Path, another long distance route which runs from Kincardine through Culross, Low Valleyfield, Torryburn, Limekilns and North Queensferry and ends up at Newburgh.