By Bruce Fegen

A MAJOR scheme to improve the beach at Burntisland is finally due to get under way this week after being held up by environmental restrictions within the Forth Estuary.

The work became necessary when old groynes at the west end of the beach had to be removed for safety reasons after the action of the sea caused the stone-filled wire baskets to burst open.

This led to a loss of sand from the popular blue flag beach and Fife Council agreed that remedial work should be carried out.

It will involve constructing a new 40-metre long rock groyne (a pier-like structure designed to prevent the sand from drifting off the beach) and importing 4000 tonnes of new sand to improve the condition of the beach.

A new 150mm thick reinforced concrete facing will also be provided to the seaward face of the promenade wall to extend its life and improve its visual appearance.

Mowlem plc (Kilsyth) has been awarded the £256,000 contract and expects to take around 10 weeks to complete the project. Fife Council’s community services and transport services worked together to secure the funding and procure these works, with input from community groups and local councillors.

During the project, construction plant will be working on the promenade and beach around low tide and, while the council is keen to see disruption to users minimised, it will be necessary to close the beach and promenade at the start of the work to ensure public safety.

However, the contract will be phased to ensure that the eastern sections of the beach and promenade become free as demand increases in the summer season. The Fife Coastal Path will be temporarily diverted along Kinghorn Road.

Due to the closure of Lammerlaws Bridge, access for construction vehicles will be via the High Street, Harbour Place, Forth Place and the diversion through the East Dock.

Construction access to the beach will be via the existing slipway at the west end of the promenade. Public access to this slipway will be maintained throughout the project and upon request from the contractor when work is in progress.

The contractor’s site compound will be located in the lower car park of the Beacon Leisure Centre, however, the upper car park will still be available to users of the leisure centre as normal.

Fife Council’s transport services will have one of their engineers, Bob Fenton, on site and he can be contacted on 01592 871241.