THE long-awaited £10.5 million works to clean up the polluted beach area at Dalgety Bay should be completed by September next year.

The South West Fife area committee was given an update last week and heard that the town's foreshore was the worst area of radioactive contamination in the country.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has investigated other sites and, while some radiation was found, said it was nothing like "the magnitude of the problem that was at Dalgety Bay".

Dr Paul Dale told councillors: "Undoubtedly, there are sites where radium contamination exists but as long as people don't come into contact with it and there's no pathway, then there's no risk to the public.

"We keep those sites where we've detected contamination under review to make sure nothing's changed. There are some but nothing of the magnitude requiring the intervention that Dalgety Bay does."

The contamination on the town's beach was discovered by accident in 1990 and came from dials in Second World War planes that were coated with a luminous paint – later found to contain radium -226 – to help pilots and navigators read the instruments at night.

The planes were broken up and burned at Donibristle Airfield in the 1950s and the resultant ash and clinker dumped along the shore, around a decade before the development of the town.

Dr Dale said: "The activities that were undertaken at Dalgety Bay at the former sites of HMS Donibristle could have occurred at other sites.

"Since understanding the magnitude of the issue at Dalgety Bay, we've undertaken a review of similar sites around Scotland and also other industries that used radium largely at that time in terms of watchmakers etc.

"There are a number of sites we've investigated and looked at and, fortunately for those local communities, they haven't indicated anything like the magnitude of the problem that was at Dalgety Bay."

Private contractor Balfour Beatty started on site last month with the most radioactive material to be taken away and areas covered with new rock armour.

A new slipway, which will also act as radiation shielding, will be built at Dalgety Bay Sailing Club and further minimise the risk to the public.

Work will halt in October to protect wading birds that spend the winter months in the area and resume again in April 2022.

Stephen Ritchie, from the Ministry of Defence's Defence Infrastructure Organisation, told the committee: "The project has moved forward since we last spoke.

"The contractor has applied for, and received, the licence that was necessary from SEPA.

"They expedited it very quickly and, as of May 17, the contractor has been on site beginning the process of decontaminating the beach.

"Our target date for completion remains September 2022."

Dr Dale added: "We expedited the permit application and it took a couple of months rather than our usual four months determination period and work has commenced for the necessary remediation of the beach."

Cllr David Barratt said: "It's really good to see progress being made, particularly the robust methodology that's being followed, and I was happy to be on site the day work started and to speak to SEPA and the contractor.

"I'm pleased to see it's being done to quite a high standard."

Over the years, more than 3,000 radioactive particles, some giving very high readings, have been discovered at the beach, in nearby gardens and next to the sailing club.

Restrictions were put in place in 2011 with parts of the foreshore fenced off and fishing banned.

The MoD accepted responsibility finally in 2014 but plans for a clean-up were delayed frequently.