‘Holyrood should make rail link top priority’

THE Scottish Government should consider the Levenmouth rail link its main priority for future investment, a key transport body has claimed.

The South East of Scotland Transport Partnership (Sestran) has hailed the potential to deliver a railway to Leven as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make lasting economic change. The partnership’s support has encouraged campaigners who were outraged when the project was left out of the £1 billion Edinburgh City Deal.

Sestran is a statutory regional transport partnership encompassing eight local authorities, including Fife, which is working toward a more sustainable and efficient transport network.

In a letter to Transport Scotland, partnership director George Eckton said members supported the bid to reinstate the rail link between Leven and Thornton.

“It represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver lasting economic change to deliver jobs, skills and opportunity to one of the most deprived communities in Fife,” he said.

“The project is an opportunity to deliver a step change in supporting investment and access to jobs locally and in major growth areas, including Dundee and Edinburgh, which remain beyond reach for people without ready access to transport.”

Mr Eckton has been invited to visit campaigners by Leven councillor Colin Davidson.

Levenmouth Rail Campaign secretary Allen Armstrong welcomed the partnership’s support. “We continue to be outraged and flabbergasted by the Edinburgh City Deal,” he said. “We can see Edinburgh across the water but it takes such a long time to get there by bus it’s out of reach for most people in the Levenmouth area.

“We continue to be angry at claims toward balancing inequality with the country when actual decisions defy that.”