At a meeting of Fife Council’s Policy and Co-ordination Committee, councillors heard details of how the Scottish Government funding would be spent and that the investment in Fife’s communities would provide opportunities for local companies too.

Projects agreed for funding are:

• £360,000 investment in Kirkcaldy town centre
• £600,000 to take forward improvement work in Kincardine
• £150,000 on upgrading work to Kirkcaldy’s Kings Theatre 
• £438,000 on upgrading work to St Margaret’s House Dunfermline 
• £200,000 in grant funding, available to town centre businesses for improvement works
• £500,000 for improvements around Leven’s railway and bus stations and better links to the town centre
• £200,000 to help improve community facilities at Rosyth Community Facilities DAFC alongside the new training facility
• £300,000 to upgrade nine business units at Lochgelly Business Park 

Over the past three years, the council has benefited from over £8m of Scottish Government funding to boost town centres and local economies. Projects already completed include the redevelopment of the site used by the former DSS building in Cowdenbeath town centre, the creation of an Enterprise Hub in Dunfermline town centre, new signage and cycleways in Glenrothes, and improvements to Inverkeithing and Kirkcaldy town centres. 

The council’s Head of Business and Employability Gordon Mole welcomed the funding adding this would help in the council’s aim of stimulating and supporting investment in Fife’s towns and encouraging more people to use their local facilities.

He said: “These schemes focus on local priorities to address issues in our town centres, focusing on what’s needed and bringing improvements and change. Fife’s centres have a lot to offer and this funding will help us diversify and flourish as we recover from the challenges of the pandemic and continue to grow our local economy.

“The funding would also encourage local trades and suppliers to bid for work related to any of the projects, keeping investment local.

“It’s important that as a council we do everything we can to encourage local businesses to take advantage of the opportunities that these investment projects bring to the area. Our teams will be working to make sure Fife firms benefit as much as possible.”