Published: Thursday, 22nd April, 2010 6:55am

£60,000 study into troubled Inverkeithing street

by Siew Peng Lee

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INVERKEITHING'S Fraser Avenue will be the subject of a £60,000 feasibility study to consider the long-term future of the troubled street.

The South West Fife area committee agreed last week to the tendering of the study, which will consider options for the future, including its redevelopment.

A report to councillors stated that around one in 10 houses in Fraser Avenue is currently empty, nearly five times the Fife average.

It added that although the street contains only a third of the number of properties in Inverkeithing, it accounts for three-quarters of the town's empty houses and half the turnover of properties.

Councillor David Herbert said, "This has to happen as fast as you can possibly go.

"Inverkeithing is not an island on its own and we want some ideas what to do.

"If we want to move forward in Fraser Avenue and Inverkeithing generally we need to increase the tempo."

However, Councillor Bob Eadie was unconvinced that "this consultant will tell us something we don't already know" and said the charges were "an outrageous amount of money".

Councillor Alice McGarry responded, "The information is already there, it just needs bringing together.

"If we are going to move on Fraser Avenue I don't see any other way but to concede on this.

"I do support your reservations but I feel we're left with no alternative or the work will not be done.

"We'll be sitting here five years from now moaning about it."

Mr Eadie also raised the point that the consultants be briefed about the consultation work in Kincardine - where the high-rise flats will be coming down after years of being hit by anti-social behaviour and low occupancy - and the former Wardlaw Crescent in Dunfermline, where two-thirds of the street remained empty although there was high demand for housing elsewhere in the city.

The report stated that surveys had been carried out to investigate complaints of dampness, although the cause has been shown not to be a structural issue but contributed to by the "habits of some of the tenants".

It added that applicants on the housing register had also given negative feedback on the external appearance of the flats and internal stairwells.

This resulted in a pilot project at numbers 38-48 which saw new security doors and new front doors added; painting, flooring and lighting of the internal stairwell; boundary treatment and landscaping to the garden area; and new external stores for tenants.

However, the report said there was a need "to examine in more detail the future contribution to meeting housing need that Fraser Avenue could make" - and that the employment of a consultant would be able to "provide a greater level of dedicated resources than could be provided in-house".

Housing team manager David Robertson explained that consultations would involve the local community and councillors and include as many tenants as possible.

The study will now go out to tender and the outcomes are expected in November.

Around 200 families live in Fraser Avenue and a survey carried out by the Press two years ago showed that an overwhelming majority of residents wanted the street knocked down.

Nine out of 10 said it should be flattened all together and more than 80 per cent of residents wanted out, saying the street - described as "Fife Council's dustbin" - had seen a rise in violent incidents in the last few years.

Residents said they felt "castigated" for living there, and that their kids were "marginalised" for being from Fraser Avenue.

The street also saw an asbestos scare in November 2007, in which residents of two blocks of flats were evacuated - with families in one block losing almost all their possessions due to asbestos contamination.