The houses, constructed by Beattie Passive for Fife Housing Association, are said to require 90% less heating and reduce CO₂ emissions by as much as 100%.

Mr Walker said: “I was very pleased to be invited by Beattie Passive’s local Scottish manager, Colin Leask, to meet the builders again when the Housing Minister Keith Brown visited the site. The builders have made great progress since my last visit. I was impressed to see the houses already roofed and fitted out, and with a view to possibly opening in July.

“Sadly, in recent years the construction industry has ground down, which has led to a severe shortage of affordable housing. These houses in Inchkeith Drive will be rented out as part of Fife Housing Association’s stock, and FHA seem pleased so far with progress.

“Unlike existing social housing, which is often poorly insulated, if insulated at all, and which traps thousands of Scots in fuel poverty due to sky-high heating costs, Beattie Passive uses the latest energy-efficient construction. But modern though these houses in Inchkeith Drive are, they look traditional in appearance and fit in well with the surrounding area.

“I’m glad the project is going so well. It has brought some excellent employment opportunities locally, especially for young people. The build system has been manufactured and erected by trainees from the Fife Skills Development Centre in Kirkcaldy. Hopefully there will be plans for other similar projects in Dunfermline and Fife. Beattie Passive has proved successful in the private residential market, and the build system could be used for factories, schools and nursing homes. 

“I look forward to more substantial progress across the board.”

Bill Walker MSP and Ron Beattie, Technical and Managing Director of Beattie Passive, on-site near the new housing

Over the years, both as councillor and now MSP, I have welcomed many groups of teachers studying with this acclaimed organisation. I am proud that ISP has chosen Dunfermline. The organisation also specialises in holiday language courses and tailor-made educational visits to Britain.  Their choice is recognition of Scotland’s ancient capital city as a centre for teaching and cultural awareness.

ISP’s Scottish organiser, Win Scott, works very hard to ensure the teachers enjoy their visits and return home with happy stories of Dunfermline and Scotland. I hope the visits of the approximately 200 further teachers due to arrive in Dunfermline over the summer will be as successful as previous ones.

The above was originally written for Bill’s Dunfermline Press column. This version may vary slightly.

Dunfermline resident Michaela Tabb has now refereed for her second time at the recent World Snooker Championship final.

Ms Tabb, also known as ‘Lady Ref’, has achieved several ground-breaking milestones in the sport — as the first woman to referee at a professional-ranking snooker tournament, at a world-ranking snooker final and at the World Snooker Championship final itself.

Meanwhile, Stephen Henry, a former pupil of Inverkeithing High School, has announced his retirement from tournament snooker, having broken a host of records over his career.

Among his most notable achievements, Stephen has won the World Championship seven times. He first took the title aged just 21, the youngest ever player to become World Champion. He was ranked world number one between 1990 and 1998, and altogether he holds 36 world-ranking titles — more than any other player.

It is always inspiring to see local people doing well. Both Michaela and Stephen have made huge contributions to snooker and set records for others to aspire towards.

Good luck to Michaela in her continuing career and to Stephen in his future ventures.

The above was originally written for Bill’s Dunfermline Press column. This version may vary slightly.

Our councillors have a vital duty towards the people of Fife to provide the best possible standards of service. Their decisions affect all of us, whether our concerns are with housing, roads, social work, recycling, education or the wide range of other services Fife Council provides.

Regardless of the political stripes of the new Council Administration, I wish the councillors every success and am sure they will put the needs of all their constituents to the fore.

I particularly extend my best wishes to Cllr Jim Leishman on his appointment as Provost of Fife. I know that Jim is a decent man who will work very hard for Fife and who won’t forget Dunfermline in his new role as ‘Mr Fife’!  I look forward to working with him for the specific benefit of the Dunfermline area.

The above was originally written for Bill’s Dunfermline Press column. This version may vary slightly.

St Leonards Primary School has secured £8231 from the Big Lottery Fund, through Awards for All. Among other things, the school will buy artificial grass, a pergola, a bench, a music panel and wall games.

Mr Walker, MSP for Dunfermline, said: “I’m very pleased to hear about this grant. This is yet another example of Big Lottery funding being made available locally for the improvement of the community.

“It is especially welcome to see children benefit from an improvement to their environment, one that will encourage them to enjoy healthy outdoor activity.”

The project meets the Awards for All outcome  of “People and communities are healthier”.

Awards for All Scotland is supported by the Creative Scotland, sportscotland and the Big Lottery Fund. It award grants of between £500 and £10,000 for people to take part in art, sport, heritage and community activities, and for projects that promote education, the environment and health in the local community.

Supported by:  Dennis Robertson, Richard Lyle, Mike MacKenzie, Colin Beattie, Stuart McMillan, Kevin Stewart

Date Lodged: 23/05/2012

Dunfermline MSP Bill Walker welcomed the news:

“Congratulations to the Community Council for securing this Big Lottery funding. This is great news for the local people who will enjoy this enhancement of their villages. The displays will also create an even more positive image to visitors.

“A great many groups throughout West Fife have now received grants from the Big Lottery Fund for their voluntary and community projects. I would strongly encourage others to find out about Big Lottery funding and also to be aware of other grants that might be available.

“As for the West Fife Villages, I very much look forward to seeing their floral displays!”

The Community Council’s £9,895 award will fund, among other things, planters, seating, watering equipment, a lawnmower, compost bins and a newsletter.

The project meets the Big Lottery Fund’s Awards for All outcomes of “People have better and more sustainable services and environments” and “People and communities are healthier”.

Supported by: Richard Lyle, Mike MacKenzie, Colin Beattie

Date Lodged: 21/05/2012

Supported by: Richard Lyle, Kevin Stewart, Kenneth Gibson, Fiona McLeod, Mike MacKenzie, Colin Beattie

Date Lodged: 11/05/2012

Perth and North Perthshire SNP MP, Pete Wishart, has demanded the UK Government abandons any plans that would further compromise the identity of the battalions, which he says would be a bid to mask cuts to the army.

Mr Walker commented: “The Black Watch has a proud history stretching back nearly three-hundred years, and the UK Government must not run roughshod over that.

“I urge the UK Government and the Tory Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond, not to arrogantly dismiss our concerns but to listen to Mr Wishart, to the Scottish Government and, most of all, to the people of Fife and Scotland.

“The coalition must consider the powerful attachment Fifers and Scots have to the history and traditions of our regiments. They have already tossed one-third of Scots regiments onto the scrapheap — three out of nine battalions.

“They recently disbanded the Lowland Gunners, which now means that only eight of the 140 regular units will be Scottish recruited. Of those, a tiny two per cent are actually based in Scotland.

“These figures are a complete betrayal, and I agree with Mr Wishart that any plans to further merge our regiments are simply an attempt to disguise the ever-disproportionate and, frankly, disturbing MoD cuts to Scotland.

“In the past decade Scotland has lost more than 10,500 defence jobs under successive Labour and Tory-Liberal administrations. We have been hit with a massive £5.6billion underspend.

“The UK Government is running Scotland’s defence capabilities into the ground. It begs the question, how exactly is the Union making Scotland stronger? The Union is depleting our resources, and we must not allow this happen.”