FED-UP families and politicians have hit out at Scottish Water and Fife Council following continuous problems with sewage pollution in Limekilns and Charlestown.

At a meeting last Thursday, members of the public and Dunfermline MSP Shirley-Anne Somerville highlighted the issue, and said overflowing sewers were feeding straight into Lyne Burn with effluent ending up on beaches.

Local residents on picturesque coastal walks said they’d found sanitary towels, wipes, tampons and even false teeth along the shore.

They also complained that thousands of homes are planned in the vicinity of the villages at the expense of other areas in West Fife.

Ms Somerville said: “In Limekilns and Charlestown when the tanks overflow it brings in the sewage from the whole of Dunfermline into the village.

“It’s quite atrocious that it is happening, particularly with the amount of house building set to go ahead in this area.”

The meeting was held in the Parkgate Centre in Rosyth where flooding issues were also discussed. The MSP added: “There are also extended problems with flooding in places like Cairneyhill and this is all down to house building.

“Impact assessments completed alongside planning applications look at a local area, but they are clearly not working.

“The strategy is not working, and it is not fit for purpose. This has been going on for far too long.

“How can Fife Council continue to build houses when we don’t have the infrastructure to deal with it?”

In recent months SEPA have directed site inspections at Lyne Burn and have directed Scottish Water to carry out a clean-up.

Representatives from Scottish Water said that they visit the site every month and are carrying out investigations into the pollution.

They said they are seeing small amounts of pollution across the Forth Estuary and a two-year study of the area is currently being undertaken, due to be concluded by the end of the year.

Chief operating officer, Peter Farrer, said: “We can’t just take a localised view because if we fix a problem here it might impact on people elsewhere.”

Part of the problem is members of the public flushing items down the toilet that they shouldn’t, including wipes, sanitary items, cotton wool, disposable nappies and condoms, and the company has a public awareness campaign to try and prevent blocked drains and pipes.

Lorna Wilkie, a member of Limekilns community council, told the Press: “We basically get everyone’s crap from Dunfermline on our doorstep.

“Relatively speaking it’s not a big cost – Scottish Water can put some mesh over the overflows – but it’s just not a priority for them. They continue to say that they are surveying the whole of the Forth but when are they going to finish their investigation? It’s just disgusting that we have to walk through this stuff.”

A member of the public asked why thousands of homes in Duloch had been built with no capacity in the sewage system.

Mr Farrer replied: “Every planning application has a study that takes place and it is all worked out before anything goes ahead.”

He said that new housing developments do not add any further burden to the existing water network.

Ms Somerville said it didn’t seem logical that planning application assessments were localised while current studies investigated a wider area.