FAMILIES in Abbeyview will be asked how they can improve facilities in the area with £1.5 million. 

Fife Council have committed the huge pot of cash as part of a plan to continue the regeneration of the Dunfermline estate. 

Once a troubled area with a poor reputation, Abbeyview has been transformed with unpopular old blocks of flats replaced by more attractive homes. 

But not everything has changed and Dunfermline area manager Joe McGuinness said: “Much has been achieved in the wider regeneration of Abbeyview over a period of years and the focus was very much on the quality and type of housing across a fairly large estate. 

“However, little has been done to bring the quality of community provision up to a similar standard and we’re still delivering services from facilities that can at best be described as dated.” 

Last year, the council said they had too many old, costly and under-used buildings, the maintenance backlog is more than £200m and they’re under pressure to save money. 

The aim is to slim down the number of properties they own but offer more facilities from them, with buildings declared surplus to requirements to be sold or handed over to interested parties. 

Abbeyview Community Centre was earmarked for a community asset transfer but councillors ruled out that option in September and said it must remain in council control. 

At the time, Councillor Helen Law, chair of the City of Dunfermline area committee, said: “My personal view is that Abbeyview needs new facilities and I’d like to see a masterplan for the area, looking at what’s there and what it needs.

“It could be like the Kelty model, where a number of old buildings were replaced by something new and purpose-built, but should include the two high schools (St Columba’s and Woodmill) as they definitely need to be replaced.”

That’s now set to happen with a charrette – a way of bringing together local people, organisations and businesses to discuss how they would like their area to look – for Abbeyview.

And they’ll have plenty of scope to think big with the council’s capital investment plan for 2017-27 allocating £1-1.5m for new facilities in Abbeyview. 

This week, Cllr Law said: “The money has been allocated and it is there. We now just have to find the right way to spend it.”

Mr McGuinness added: “The focus of the proposed charrette will examine the current make-up of local community facilities and consider if these are still fit for purpose. 

“It will also challenge the community to create a vision of what an integrated community facility would look like and how best it could serve the needs of the citizens of Abbeyview.”

An initial consultation was held last year but a second public engagement exercise will now be launched in Abbeyview.