A call has been made to tackle what has been described as ‘wholly unacceptable’ transport links between West Fife villages and major transport links.

Graeme Downie, the Scottish Labour candidate for West Fife and Coastal Villages, said journeys from places like High Valleyfield, Torryburn, Culross and Kincardine should be a priority in Fife Council’s Local Transport Strategy, reports the Dunfermline Press.

Consultation on the strategy opened recently and Mr Downie is hoping improvements will be made as he believes they will lead to fairer access to education and job opportunities, reports the Dumfermline Press.

Currently, he said a car journey between hubs such as Inverkeithing train station or the Ferrytoll park and ride takes around 15 minutes, but a bus journey can take more than an hour.

“Delivering access from the West Fife villages to transport hubs through local bus services must be a key priority for Fife Council’s future transport strategy,” he said.

“For a 15-minute car journey to somewhere like Inverkeithing or Ferrytoll to take over an hour by bus at peak times is wholly unacceptable; it significantly reduces educational and job opportunities for people living in the West Fife villages without access to a car.

“Access is even harder for people travelling outside peak times, with sparse services and journey times up to 90 minutes.

“For those with access to a car, the poor services makes it much harder for them to reduce their carbon footprint which is rightly one of the objectives of the proposed transport strategy.

“We must demand better and fairer localised public transport to take people to these hubs. I am asking anyone who is impacted by this to get in touch via my Facebook page as well as anyone who has other transport issues they believe should be a priority for this area.”

Fife Council say the new Local Transport Strategy will set out the vision and action plan for transport in the region for the next 10 years and have encouraged Fifers to have their say in its formation.

Councillor Altany Craik, economy, tourism. strategic planning and transportation committee convener, said: “What are your challenges in moving around Fife? How would you like to get out and about in the future? We want to hear what matters to you. Your views, ideas and experiences will help us shape a fairer, greener and more accessible region.