Councillors delay decision on reducing speed on Fife road
A decision on slowing down traffic on a Fife road which council officials say is spurred on by concerns over horse safety has been stalled.
Members of Glenrothes Area Committee had been asked to support proposals to introduce a 40mph zone on the B9130 between Thornton and the Redhouse roundabout.
Eva Martinez, from Fife Council’s roads and transportation services, told councillors that the route is currently set at national speed limit before a 20mph zone coming into Thornton.
“The proposed 40 will allow drivers to adjust their speed more gradually,” she said.
“The road is also used by horse riders.
“A 40mph limit would help them to give drivers more time to see and react to horses.”
However, Glenrothes West and Kinglassie councillor Altany Craik was unsure such a large stretch of road needed the limit changing.
“It was a bit of a surprise it was the whole length of the road,” he said. “It seems a bit excessive.
“There is a huge path most of the way down there which is a shared pathway so horses should be on that. They are not actually sharing the road with road users for most of that.
“If we had the standard 40 before the signs to slow traffic down, that would be sufficient.”
Local councillor Daniel Wilson, who represents Glenrothes Central and Thornton, was equally surprised at the proposal.
“I recall for Strathore Road (where a speed reduction was agreed earlier this year after a campaign by local residents) we had to fight tooth and nail to get a speed reduction – I support it in principle but this seems to have come from nowhere. I am quite confused how it came about,” he said.
“As a ward councillor, I have had emails about Strathore Road. It is frustrating that there was a real threat to life there – and this may be true in both cases – but a petition had to be raised to force it to happen then this one seems to be just happening. It doesn’t make sense.
“There has been no consultation. We do not know where it has come from.”
Ms Martinez said the move came after concerns had been raised to her service.
“We have had complaints about this for a number of years to do with vulnerable users – mainly horse riders – and problems with speeders and issues with so many horses using the road,” she said.
“Comparing it to Strathore Road, that is the difference. It doesn’t have as many vulnerable users.”
Glenrothes West and Kinglassie councillor Craig Walker called for a more detailed report.
“If horses are using that road on a regular basis, I don’t see any massive evidence when using that road fairly regularly,” he commented.
“The idea a family has a bit of land that has horses kept on them doesn’t seem to be a valid reason to be changing speed limits. I would like to get a bit of background.
“Most ward councillors will know if there is a live issue in their ward when it comes to speeding because members of the community will tell them. You are telling us this has been a live issue for a couple of years but councillors don’t know too much about this?
“I would like to see some of the background information that transportation services has got. Reading between the lines, it appears the owners of the houses that have horses in that street are the only ones looking to have this speed limit reduced.
“If you put that into context with other times where we have had to reduce speed limits where crashes are happening on a regular basis, it seems this is being treated differently by the service.”
The committee agreed to defer their decision until their next meeting and asked for additional information including options of a shorter length of speed reduction and details of complaints and speed surveys.