COMMUNITY leaders in Townhill want members of the public to give their views over the proposed northern link road this evening.

It could run through the village and Townhill Community Council want to gauge residents’ opinions and assess what options they have to minimise its impact.

The proposed route for the link road between Wellwood and Halbeath has been identified in FIFEplan as providing a convenient and essential route between large-scale development in north Dunfermline and Halbeath for the M90 and A92.

A development to build 1,100 homes in Wellwood by I&H Brown is already underway while there are proposals for 1,400 houses to be built between Halbeath and Kingseat.

Construction of the road would see it run alongside Townhill Country Park and cut across the village at Townhill Road and Main Street, before running alongside the old railway line towards Kingseat Road.

Townhill is one of several villages where it is feared construction of the road – funded in part by housing developers – will have a serious impact on people’s lives. 

A presentation will be given by the community council’s Mike Provan.

He said: “Some people don’t care, some ask ‘does it affect me’, which is a typical reaction with planning matters, and some don’t want it at any cost.

“Everyone will be affected to some extent; for some it will be minimal, but for some it will be significant.

"We thought that we would open it up and try get more people along, hear what they have to say and provide as much information as we can glean about where it will go, its size and approximately when it will happen.

“The strategic objectives are correct; 10,000 houses will be built in North Dunfermline and there is a need to relieve congestion in the centre of Dunfermline. But we are concerned. 

“A lot of people use Townhill Road already, the amount of traffic will increase anyway. I also feel that peak time priority would go to traffic using the new road and traffic would back up through Townhill.

“We need to hear from people to help us colour what we will do in the future. Although I think the road will happen, trying to influence the design of the route may be feasible.”

The meeting is in Townhill Community Centre at 7pm.