PROPOSALS to create Fife's first outdoor cycle speedway track in Dunfermline have moved a step closer after plans were submitted to Fife Council.

Press Sport reported in January that the £60,000 facility, which would be only the third of its kind in Scotland, was set to be built at Queen Anne High School with the sport continuing to grow in popularity with pupils.

Over £45,000 of the total cost has been met by grants from sportscotland and the Fife Environmental Trust, while the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust have contributed a total of £2461. The additional funds needed has been raised through fundraising and Fife Council's city of Dunfermline area committee.

The track will be constructed on spare land next to the school's existing playing fields, and it is anticipated that it will be ready for use by the end of the year if permission is granted.

Those behind the project had hoped to have the track completed by Easter but issues in securing the necessary funding to carry out the track's construction saw a delay in submitting an application to council planners until earlier this month.

Craig Masson, acting PT guidance teacher at Queen Anne, said, "I've been told that the construction of the track should only take between 2-4 weeks, so hopefully it will be ready by the end of the year if planning permission is given. There were funding issues which caused a wee bit of a delay but it's good that we're at the stage that a planning application has been submitted. Once its built, we'll be looking to create our own cycle speedway club and we've been invited to join the three rivers competition next year. It includes Glasgow, Edinburgh and Newcastle and, in cycle speedway terms, it is a big deal.

"This will only be the third outdoor track to be opened in Scotland since the 1980's, with the other two in Glasgow and Edinburgh. We had over 60 pupils take part in the sport during Queen Anne's cluster schools games before the summer, so the interest and enthusiasm is still growing.

"We'll be running the Fife schools championship again this year and there should be four Fife schools involved in the Scottish Championships on 5th September."

Cycle speedway follows the same principles as motorcycle speedway but racing takes place on short oval dirt or indoor tracks with the object not to slide the bikes around the turns unlike in the motorised version. The sport has captured the imagination of Queen Anne pupils, who during the last school year participated in a five-match series with Balwearie HS, Madras College, Glenwood HS and Viewforth HS that was held indoors. Once completed, the oval track will have a racing distance of approximately 64 metres.