A SUCCESSFUL initiative to reduce dog-fouling and efforts to keep Townhill looking bright and beautiful will continue thanks to a £9,397 grant.

The City of Dunfermline area committee agreed to the funding request from the community council last week to help the popular village stay attractive and tidy.

Chairman Ronnie Cowan said the money would be spent on floral enhancement (£2,300), measures to prevent littering and dog-fouling (£1,500), maintenance of equipment, including mowers (£1,600), grants to local groups (£300), village events (£1,300) and planned improvements in Townhill (£3,000).

He added: "Our village has a voting population of about 1,200 but we have experienced large numbers of visiting families using our park eg swings area, cycle training area, tennis courts, putting green and our MUGA (Multi-Use Games Area) mainly due to the 'exercise' government policy – these areas were never closed down or locked.

"This situation has created its own issues in terms of a required recovery.

"With the revising of the community council boundary and increased housing we expect more demand on our delivery from this year forward.

"We have had great success with all of our initiatives to date, delivering on price and on time, but this also increases our burden of maintenance."

Councillor Garry Haldane questioned the amounts sought for dog-fouling and floral enhancement initiatives and felt more details could have been included.

Cllr Gavin Ellis said the village's volunteers dispensed a lot of bags for owners to put the dog's mess in and added that many of the planters were "degraded" and needed replaced. It was also pointed out that plant suppliers' prices had risen sharply.

Cllr Helen Law said: "I'd like to pay tribute to Townhill Community Council for the innovative work they do. They're very proactive and have the place looking really good.

"They've made an agreement to buy from source and in bulk so they do supply other community councils with the dog bags if they request them.

"The park and loch areas have been really busy so they do go through a lot of bags.

"The amount of dog-fouling in the area has been much reduced since they stared this project. Of course, that's been good for everyone, including council workers who don't have the task of cleaning this up."

Cllr Haldane said other community councils could learn from Townhill.

Cllr Law added: "I hope all the community councils are getting their applications in for support if they have projects they think they can do over the year.

"We did start this process some time ago and it's been very successful but we're dependent on community councils putting their applications in so we can consider them."