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Bikers booted off the bing!

Graham Gibson • Published 15 Jul 2011 08:15 Print Comments 56 Comments

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Picture: Ted Milton

ANGRY West Fife scramblers have revved up their protests against plans to shut them out of their biking "haven" at Comrie Bing.

The bikers face being booted off the site after owners Land Regeneration & Development Ltd decided to seal the area, the derelict site of an old pit.

The furious dirt bike riders claim they would even be willing to pay for what they consider an ideal isolated location that does not annoy other local residents.

Naiomi Fenwick, who helped lead protests at the bing over the weekend, said, "We have used this land for many years for our motorbikes and quads.

"I personally have tried to contact LRD over the last 18 months to ask them to clean the land and let us use this for leisure.

"We are more than willing to pay to use this land but we have never had any sort of reply from them.

"The owner came down to the site and made us aware that he is now closing the land off and we have a week left on it, maybe two at the most.

"This land is used by families to keep their kids off the streets on the motorbikes. We are one big family up there and we are making a stand against this company."

Site owner, Fifer John Devine, has been seeking permission to redevelop and clean up the land for more than 10 years and suggestions for a golf course, hotel, a school and housing have all been mooted.

In January this year councillors approved plans to try to transform the site.

One biker commented on the Press website, "People complain about motocross riders and quad bikers ruining pathways and private land.

"The Comrie site is a haven for these people and is well enough out of the way that they do not cause anyone any problems.

"Yet now they want to remove this site as well, leaving these people nowhere to go. I find this ridiculous."

Another stated, "I actually take my kids here to use their bike and quad as there is nowhere else for them to do so.

"Taking this wasteland and developing it for housing and a golf course may line the pockets of the developers but where does it leave the kids that use this place for fun?"

The former pit has been described by Fife Council as the "largest area of post-industrial dereliction in West Fife" with a "myriad of environmental problems".

In approving plans councillors were told that the bing itself was thought to contain "four million tonnes of debris" and adjacent Bickram Wood was now fenced off as "high levels of cyanide" were found there.

Land Regeneration & Development Ltd were given permission for opencast coal mining at the old pit as well as a programme of investigation and remediation of contaminated land.

There's a possible £102,900 community fund in store as the applicants offered 15p for each of the 686,000 tonnes of coal they plan to extract from the site.

West Fife and Coastal Villages councillor Bobby Clelland said, "A couple of years ago we arranged meetings with bikers and police to try and form a bike club to raise funds and train youngsters on safety but it fell through.

"I receive phone calls complaining about scramblers but there's also a need for some kind of club to find locations for them to use.

"Unfortunately there are not any in West Fife I'm aware of so it could be a good idea to get a club up and running.

"I would rather see kids enjoying themselves having been trained up to use the proper safeguards rather than just roaming about streets and local parks.

"There is a need for it and we're failing to satisfy that at the moment. The bing is not a safe place so it's about trying to find a good safe environment."

Calls to Land Regeneration & Development Ltd were not returned.

This article appeared in Dunfermline Press 14 Jul 11

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