A community fighting for more than three decades for adoption of the road to its school has been warned it may never happen.
Letham Primary School is reached by a single track road for which Fife Council is not responsible and can become treacherous in winter.
Villagers believed years of campaigning had paid off in 2011, when the council agreed it could adopt it after construction of a bus turning circle as a condition of planning consent for a new house.
However, the turning circle never appeared and one councillor claimed the community had been let down.
A council transportation officer has warned adoption would be unlikely even if the planning obligation was enforced but councillors have agreed to try to find a solution when they debate the case next month.
Monimail Community Council member John Vaughan said: “Somewhere along the way an error has been made and we now have to deal with that situation.
“There are frustrations that no action has been taken. If we get another winter like 2010 when everything froze solid for weeks on end, this road will become treacherous once again.”
He said he was pleased the issue was being reconsidered.
Transportation officer Kevin Smith told the council’s north-east Fife area committee the crux of the issue was a substandard planning condition which could still be enforced.
However, he said even with the turning circle there would be a significant cost to the council in bringing the road up to an adoptable standard and maintaining it.
He said: “There is still a disconnection between the turning circle and the rest of School Brae.
“I don’t think there’s a lot of merit in pursuing the enforcement option. Fife Council will have to make a decision on whether we do the work necessary but there is a significant cost.”
He estimated it would cost £80,000 but warned there were other unadopted roads in north-east Fife in similar conditions — at least one leading to a school — and a precedent could be set.
Councillor Tim Brett called for service head Ken Gourlay and planning and transportation convener Councillor Altany Craik to attend the committee’s next meeting when a report from the planning service will be presented. He said: “We’ve let the community down on this matter.”
Committee convener Councilllor Donald Lothian said the committee would discuss its options and added: “We really need to put this matter to bed as quickly as possible.”
