ALMOST £50,000 is set to make a difference around Dunfermline thanks to budget grants at the most recent area committee.

Four major projects made appeals to the City of Dunfermline area committee to get the funding they need to move their plans forward.

A brand-new playpark at Pitcorthie is now on the cards after the committee authorised £30,000 from the Dunfermline South ward budget towards the project at Thorn Grove on Pitcorthie Housing Estate. With very few facilities in the estate for young children, residents saw the need for the play area and have been working with Parks Development to design what they’d like to include. The plans include swings, see-saws, a slide and climbing frame as well as tables, benches and secure gates. A decision on the planning application is due later this month and Dunfermline South Councillor Tony Martin commented that it was great to see the involvement of residents who had worked “so hard” on the project.

Pittencrieff Park’s children’s play area is also set to benefit from the area budget, with £8235 being put towards essential repairs to the soft-pour surface. The application stressed how essential it was for repairs to be completed before the summer season kicks in, when the park will become busy with families from all over West Fife, and Cllr Bob Young pointed it that the park was often “overflowing” with children and it was “great to see it so well-used”. The council now hopes to have the works completed before the end of March.

Fife Cultural Trust received £5000 towards its cultural prescription service, which works with NHS partners to fill the gaps in current provision and promote wellbeing and mental health issues through cultural participation. There are five classes currently offered in Dunfermline – arts and crafts, jewellery making, painting and drawing, cookery and wellbeing through meditation. The free classes have been running for two years and offer help to people in their wellbeing, self-efficacy and depression and anxiety. With demand now growing and waiting lists for classes, the £5000 will go towards tuition fees and materials. A caveat was added in order to make sure that the premises used for the classes are in areas of social deprivation such as Touch, Abbeyview, and Broomhead.

Another £5000 went to Fife Coast and Countryside Trust (FCCT) to support a community consultation for the Pilgrims’ Way long distance footpath through Fife. Work on proposals has been going on for the past year, which will see a route stretch from Dunfermline to Culross and St Andrews, but an application for £830,000 in funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund was met with the request to undertake a community consultation before reapplying.

The £5000 granted by the area committee will allow FCCT to involve communities in a detailed consultation programme so they can have their say on different aspects of the project. By aligning the plans with local community need through consultation, FCCT hopes to secure the HLF funding by showing an understanding of the community’s views, ensuring a stronger and more sustainable project is delivered with a legacy of community ownership.