Councillor’s bid to divert £10,000 road safety scheme to stop speeding in Aberdour

Dalgety Bay and Inverkeithing councillor Patrick Browne had asked that plans for money to be spent on a flashing speed sign on the B981 be shelved and the money to be used to slow motorists down in the seaside town.

“In relation to Aberdour, I have been pursuing that for about two years. It took a long time for officers to undertake the traffic survey,” he said.

“Other than the possible installation of a speed notification sign, there has not been any movement over that time.

“There are 2000 vehicles a day going through that location at speeds they should not be, I am a bit concerned.”

At Wednesday’s meeting of Fife Council’s South and West Fife area committee, Cllr Browne said the case for a flashing sign at Dales Farm Road – at the junction of the B981 and Masterton Road – was not “particularly robust”.

“As a minimum, there is a need to conduct a traffic survey. I don’t think that has happened at that location.

“The last accident data is from 2025. Having looked at that, there have been three accidents. All of them, I do not think would have been helped by a flashing traffic sign.”

Fellow ward councillor David Barratt, however, was keen to progress the traffic calming measure on the B981.

“I think we should agree the recommendation given by our transportation professionals,” he said.

“The ‘Action For A Safer B981’ has been a campaign that has been running for a decade. There has been a reduction in speed but it still has accidents frequently at that junction.

“When I visited, there were number plates and debris from a recent accident. The residents there have had to strengthen their wall. They are living in fear that another car comes through into their garden.

“This is something that will improve the junction. I do not think we should be taking £10,000 from one safety critical project and putting it into another that has not got to the design stage.”

Keith Johnston, roads and transportation services lead consultant, said there had been “history” at the B981 junction for a long time.

“We need to look to see what would be reasonable to try and address this and prevent them from happening again,” he said.

Councillors voted 5-4 to approve a package of traffic-management projects including the B981 sign.