Local residents and Fife Housing Group colleagues came together this week to take part in a clean-up of bin stores and communal areas in Lochgelly.

As part of the organisation’s ongoing commitment to improving tenants’ homes, housing officer for the area, Audrey Cameron, arranged the delivery of two large skips and encouraged both residents and Fife Housing Group colleagues to get involved in a community effort to remove all the rubbish which was littering the area behind the flats at Grainger Street, Russell Street and Union Street.

Audrey said: “On my regular estate visits I became aware of an ongoing issue with refuse and bin storage behind some of the blocks so I decided to tackle the problem head on by arranging for some skips to be installed and engaging with residents in an effort to generate a sense of community responsibility and involvement in the clean-up.

“We had a fantastic turnout and I’d like to thank everyone who took the time to get involved – I hope they’re all as pleased with the results as I am.

“I also hope this will encourage residents to keep the communal areas clean and tidy going forward and, to this end, will now be distributing a bin collection calendar to all tenants so they know exactly when their bins need to be put out for collection in future. Longer-term I am also hoping to arrange for these small individual bins to be replaced by large communal bins which I believe will better suit the needs of the tenants in this estate but, in the meantime, clearing these areas has freed up some space and made the area both nicer and safer for children to play in.”