A BID to slow down traffic on a busy Dunfermline road has been met with scepticism by the local community council.

Fife Council revealed this week that they plan to slow down drivers on Robertson Road with proposals to reduce the speed from 30mph to 20 mph.

The route has attracted safety fears because of how fast vehicles travel along it but Bellyeoman Community Council's chairperson, Graeme Whyte, feels tougher measures are needed to allay fears.

"The Community Council have been campaigning for years about the speed of traffic on Robertson Road," he said. "We have been told there is little that can be done about it and Fife Council have been asked to look at crossings.

"It is a long road. It affects different types of pedestrians and traffic as well because you have the housing, the parking at one end at Townhill and you have got a primary school and issues surrounding that.

"You also have a nursery and a doctor's surgery and the church and the hospital. Anecdotally, a lot of the higher speed is at the hospital end and the park end of the road."

Mr Whyte said they had been asking the council and local councillors to tackle excessive speeds to make crossing the road safer "with no success."

He added: "Unfortunately they have not done anything on that front and their solution is to reduce the road speed limit.

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"If anyone had experienced driving at 20 mph, it causes other issues. You get people who don't have patience because they don't want to do 20.

"I am not saying the 20mph is a bad thing, there is excessive speeding on the road and my personal opinion is I am not convinced the 20mph limit will clamp down on these motorists doing excessive speeds.

"The community council have not been consulted on it yet. We feel that while we welcome anything that improves road safety, we feel the issues being complained of are not going to be resolved.

"We have written to the council as a community council. For some strange reason, they want to make the 20mph stop short of the park so we have asked about that.

"We are not sure why that is the case and question some of the logic applied by the council officials in terms of safety crossing the road.

"They make an excuse of not putting something in because it will cost too much money. I look at other parts of Dunfermline and Fife and councillors have fought hard to get crossings but Bellyeoman, it is as if the council doesn't think it is worth spending the money."

Posting on Facebook, local councillor Gavin Ellis welcomed the idea.

He added: "I support this move by officers in an area where parents and children cross for education and our elderly residents access the shops and chemist."

Fife Council has confirmed that is proposing to introduce the 20mph zone from 20 metres west of Alderson Drive to the junction with Townhill Road, including Balfour Court and Kilmartin Way.

A report is set to be presented to members of the City of Dunfermline Area committee on December 10.