A FETCHING new dog park has been built in Aberdour.

The tail-wagging training enclosure has been given a home at Silversand Park. Fencing was installed recently by Fife Council, signage is still to be added and funding is being looked for to install picnic benches in the exercise enclosure.

Councillor David Barratt first brought this to the council in March after he was approached by a resident over concerns with dogs in the area.

He told the Press: "It came from issues that come along periodically at Silver Sands, it is obviously a very busy site with lots of different users coming to make use of it and it came from a local resident that an exercise enclosure would be helpful.

"I wouldn't say that it was any particular negative event that has led to this, it's just a culmination of lots of different things. I suppose lower-level interactions with dogs that haven't been as positive, there has been the odd incident of dogs being loose and not well-managed and that has played into it."

There have been previous incidents of badly behaving dogs at Silver Sands with one incident leaving a five year old girl in hospital with a broken femur in July 2020. Maggie Munro had been at the beach visiting her cousins after lockdown when two out-of-control dogs barrelled into her, missing her baby sister narrowly.

She spent several nights at the Victoria Hospital and had to be given an anaesthetic so surgeons could realign her bone. She was given a cast from hip to toe.

Cllr Barratt continued: "It's a place where thousands of people want to descend on and enjoy and there is always going to be issues. This won't completely solve all of them but it provides an extra facility for dog owners to make use of and hopefully reduce the number of negative interactions."

He had originally taken this to the community council to get their thoughts and Iain Fleming, chair of the community council, said: "They've done what has been needed for dog owners to have an area where they can let their dogs off free from worry of them running around to other people and the beach.

"I know it's not quite finished yet, I know there is some signage to go up and some extra seating to go in for owners to be able to relax in the space but as far as I know it is already in use and people are enjoying it already."

Fife Council’s ground maintenance team fitted the fence. Team manager Stephen Duffy said: “The new dog exercise and training space has been created by installing a fence and double gates across the former putting area. This will give dogs and their owners an enclosed area to train in securely, outside, without any distractions.

“I’d like to say thank you to Jim Bell and his fencing team for this fantastic addition to the Silver Sands area.”