THE fantastic turn out of the public to back the Oorbit of Fife venture to invest £250,000 in the communities of the Cowdenbeath-Lochgelly area impressed the members of the Area Committee.

1,400 people cast their vote at either a series of public meetings held in each community to back projects which had been nominated by organisations and individuals or online.

In the first phase, which ran over the summer, local people generated over 150 ideas online and by completing and returning postcards.

Those ideas were then reviewed by the steering group and a short-list of 30 projects were put to the public vote at a series of meetings over the past four weeks and online.

Lochs councillor, Alex Campbell, said: “The engagement from the people of the district has been unbelievable and I would thank everyone who has promoted the idea and those who voted.”

The winning projects were announced at Wednesday’s meeting of the Area Committee.

Chair, Councillor Mark Hood, commented: “This has been a fantastic process where local people have taken control of their own destinies.

“I’m looking forward to seeing all of these projects make a real difference in our local communities and how this project can serve as a blueprint to encourage similar work across Fife.”

Area Services Manager for Cowdenbeath, Kevin Sayer, added: "The turn outs at the meetings in the communities were excellent and to get over 1,400 to cast their votes for the projects has been a tremendous example of the success of the initiative."