{"id":587038,"date":"2025-11-22T15:35:23","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T15:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/587038\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T15:35:23","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T15:35:23","slug":"contractors-walk-off-from-4m-active-travel-scheme-after-protesters-brand-project-an-absolute-shambles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/587038\/","title":{"rendered":"Contractors walk off from \u00a34m active travel scheme after protesters brand project \u201can absolute shambles\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Contractors working on the \u00a34 million Methil active travel scheme walked off on Thursday, as around a dozen people began a day-long protest.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Traffic was halted when protesters holding placards positioned a skeleton on a chair in the road to illustrate their concerns about the impact on local businesses.<\/p>\n

They say the demonstrations will continue until officials agree to reinstate the removed roundabout.<\/p>\n

Police briefly cleared barriers to allow vehicles through, but the protest resumed once contractors returned to work.<\/p>\n

\"MethilMethil protesters and police (credit: Fife Jammer Locations \/ Facebook)<\/p>\n

Protesters blocked the road and set out traffic cones in front of vehicles. To keep warm, they lit a fire in a metal barrel, which led to a visit from the fire service and a warning about black smoke drifting across the carriageway and creating a hazard for drivers.<\/p>\n

The demonstrations began five weeks ago, shortly after work on the active travel scheme started, with what residents say was short notice.<\/p>\n

The scheme, which aims to encourage more people to walk, wheel, or cycle rather than using a car, involves widening footpaths and creating a segregated cycleway and footpath.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The cycle and pedestrian path will eventually run the length of Methilhaven Road and Sea Road. The roundabout is also getting replaced by traffic lights.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The protest was called at a public meeting on Wednesday night, as the temporary traffic lights are causing traffic and businesses are losing trade as customers avoid the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"MethilMethil road closed (credit: Fife Jammer Locations \/ Facebook)<\/p>\n

They fear the situation will continue indefinitely if\u00a0the traffic lights become permanent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Graeme Dignan of Toll Auto Services told The Courier<\/a>: \u201cIf they tell us putting it back will take x amount of time, we\u2019ll have to suck it up.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut at least it will be better for us in the long run. If they say they\u2019re carrying on with the traffic lights, we\u2019ll continue to protest.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Councillors Tom Adams and Ken Caldwell now agree the roundabout should be rebuilt. They will push for a special meeting of the\u00a0Levenmouth area committee to discuss the issue in full.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Andrew Latto from Parker\u2019s Auction House declared: \u201cIf you won\u2019t answer our question now, you will find out what the people of Methil can achieve without councillors.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce we have achieved it, you will have to stand down because that\u2019s what the people will demand. It\u2019s an absolute shambles for a cycle lane nobody wants.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to cause disruption to be heard properly because they\u2019re not representing us properly. We have to take it into our own hands.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"MethilMethil protesters 2 (credit: Fife Jammer Locations \/ Facebook)<\/p>\n

Mr Adams said in response: \u201cI absolutely understand the level of anger that we\u2019re actually making progress.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCouncil officers will now take that back and convey that level of anger.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some questions we couldn\u2019t answer tonight because some are technical, but we\u2019ll hopefully get the answers people are looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fife Council transportation manager Mark Dewar said traffic lights are safer than roundabouts for pedestrians and cyclists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is our intention to complete the signalisation part first, by the end of November or early December,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Replacing the roundabout would take until after Christmas to complete.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Plans for Methil’s active travel scheme were approved by councillors in 2024, following the award of Levelling-Up fund cash from the previous UK Government. The money has to either be spent by February or returned to the government.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Contractors working on the \u00a34 million Methil active travel scheme walked off on Thursday, as around a dozen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4104],"tags":[4230,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-587038","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115594090159038740","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}