Above Councillor May said:'' Two year's on the State of Fife report shows that the Fife Partnership has taken the strategy of community planning seriously and has delivered real benefits for local people.''

Fife's public, private and voluntary sectors came together in 2000 with six common aims:

To create a strong flexible economy and a healthier Fife. That is well educated and skilled, making the most of Fife’s leisure. The safeguarding and improvement of Fife’s environment. Plus the creation of strong safer communities in Fife. Some examples are:

Scotland’s first sea link to Europe. It is established with a streamlined business support service operating across Fife through Small Business Gateway.

A new freight forum has also been established and the Fife Employability Network has been launched providing a single point of contact for disabled people looking for training and employment opportunities.

Free fruit and vegetables are now available in Fife’s nurseries and progress has also been made on promoting healthy eating, stopping adults smoking and increasing the numbers of breast feeding mothers.

Six Opportunity Centres are now up and running across Fife improving access to training

and employment. Over 50,000 people used the Centres last year.

The Stepping Stones initiative has been extended to help boost literacy and numeracy levels in pre-school children and Fife’s Lifelong Learning Partnership is now established.

The 400 mile long Kingdom of Fife Millennium Cycleways is complete and Fife has four of Scotland’s Five Blue Flag beaches. The Ferrytoll Park and Ride scheme, designed to reduce congestion on the Forth Road Bridge, has proved very successful. Recycling pilot projects are up and running and a Fife-wide CCTV system has just been launched.

Young people are enjoying the benefits of more youth projects including the successful Summer Fifestyle card and funding has been provided for 13 Safer Routes to School projects.

Fife has also been chosen to establish Scotland’s second pilot drug court to help reduce drug related crime.

For a copy of the plan, or to make comments on the State of Fife Report for 2002, email your views to sarah.hutchison@fife.gov.uk before the end of October.

FIFE’S 10 YEAR PLAN ALIVE AND WELL

TWO year's on from the launch of the Kingdom's 10 Year Community Plan, joint working has led to real community progress towards a number of key milestones and highlighted the ambition of Fife organisations to deliver customer friendly and integrated services.